Clinging On
by Arristo
Summary: Part 2 of the Mending Heart Trilogy. The memories of Mordecai's death experience and of Margaret have come back to haunt Mordecai just as Fall is coming. And so, through the battle, he slowly falls into depression...
1. Still Remembering

Hey everyone! Here I am! I have brought you the sequel! Are you guys ready? Excited? Ready to pass out? (Haha just kidding, unless you _really _are...)

Of course you are! Read!

* * *

"Okay, Muscleman and High-Five Ghost, you take out the trash. The garbage truck is going to be here any minute."

Benson was calling out the daily chores for today. It had been at least a week and a half since Mordecai's incident happened, and now the park was getting back to the old routine.

And it would be a little more busy, since summer was starting to end and autumn would take it's place.

"Skips, I think there's more kids around the fountain, so you should check on that."

Benson then turned to a certain bluejay and raccoon. "Mordecai and Rigby, you have to rake the leaves. It's almost fall and we can't have a leaf-covered park. The rakes are in the shed. Everyone now get busy."

Skips skipped off to the fountain, where screams of laughter were heard. Muscleman and High-Five Ghost went off the the garbage bags, cracking some "My Mom" jokes.

Mordecai and Rigby went to the shed. "Dude, remember we were painting the shed?" Rigby asked.

"Oh yeah... I ran into it." Mordecai laughed. The hole that Mordecai made when he ran into was boarded up. _That was seriously funny._

"Here. I got the rakes." Rigby was pulling them, breathing heavily. "Rigby, they're not _that _heavy." Mordecai groaned.

Grabbing the rake, they watched the trees.

"So... where should we start?"

"Dude, there aren't even any leaves around here!"

But at that moment, there was a snap. Mordecai and Rigby turned to see a tree branch about to fall.

Mordecai jumped out of the way, but for Rigby, that was different. The branch stayed on, but every single leaf, a semi-crimson color, fell off of it, covering Rigby in a sudden leaf pile.

"Gah!" Rigby cried as he poked his head out of the leaves. He shook his head violently, shaking the leaves off his head. Mordecai didn't say anything, until he started laughing. _Hard._

"Shut up!" Rigby shouted angrily as Mordecai kept laughing so hard.

"Okay dude. That was totally hilarious!" Mordecai wiped a tear from his eye as he tried to catch his breath.

"STOP TALKING! At least we got leaves to rake." Rigby started bunching the leaves up with the rake. Mordecai followed, and soon the leaves were in a small, neat pile.

Mordecai grabbed the garbage bag and started bunching the leaves into the bag. Rigby gathered a small pile and put it in the bag. But then one leaf fell out, and Rigby bent down and picked it up.

"Hey, this leaf looks weird." Rigby said, looking at the leaf carefully. It had a strange shape, but it looked somewhat familiar. "Dude! We don't have time to look at leaves!" Mordecai yanked away the leaf from Rigby, and was about to throw it into the bag, when he looked at it.

_This is weird... _He thought._ It looks like me! But..._

Mordecai turned it over a little bit, ad was shocked at the result.

The leaf, with curved tips, and one of the sides sticking out a little. It looked like... Her.

Without warning, a memory flashed before his eyes...

* * *

_Mordecai, wearing his green hoodie, and Margaret, wearing a velvet coat and jean capris, were walking together through a field of maple trees. The leaves were falling gently, in colors of red, orange, yellow, and light brown. A cool breeze was blowing through._

_"I love the fall." Margaret sighed, feeling the breeze on her face. She turned to Mordecai, who was trying to pick the leaves out of his head feathers. Margaret laughed, "Here, let me see."_

_Mordecai put his wings down, and Margaret took out every single leaf from his head, except for one..._

_"Oh look!" She took one leaf and showed it to Mordecai. It was a crimson red, and shaped like a beautiful heart._

_"It's beautiful, l-l-like y-you..." Mordecai stuutered as he tried to say the words, but Margaret got the message clearly. "Thanks Mordecai." She held it to her chest and they continued walking._

_Mordecai turned to Margaret, saying, "Margaret. T-t-there's something I w-want to tell you..." He said. "Yeah?" She asked, turning to him. They stood there, for a moment, it was silent._

_"Margaret, I-I've been wanting to t-tell you, that I-I I lo-"_

_"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry Mordecai, but I gotta go. My shift starts in three minutes!" Margaret gasped, looking at her phone. She put her phone away in her pocket, and turned away. "I'll see you later Mordecai!" She waved and she was gone._

_Mordecai slumped. His plan failed, _again._ He sighed and was about to walk back to the house when he nearly stepped on something. _

_He looked down and saw the heart leaf that Margaret had, still in a perfect piece. He picked it up, taking a good look at it. Mordecai sighed sadly and let go of the leaf, letting it float away in the wind._

_The leaf caught the breeze and it was blown away..._

* * *

"Mordecai? Mordecai!"

"Huh? What?" Mordecai blinked. Rigby was in front of him, a worried expression on his face.

"Dude, are you okay? You zoned out there."

Mordecai looked at the leaf in his hand, and immediately threw it into the bag. "Yeah, I'm alright." He said, gathering more leaves into the bag.

Rigby just looked at him weirdly, gathering a small bunch of leaves and placing it in the bag. And less than a minute, all the leaves were in the bag. Mordecai tied the bag and threw it in the nearby trash can, remembering the memory that he just saw.

His rubbed his head, trying to ease the slight pain that had just came up. He walked back to Rigby, who was on the ground. "Ugh... I hate raking the leaves." He grumbled.

"Dude, you barely even gathered a armful of leaves and you're tired?"

"It's hard..." Rigby whined. Mordecai rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Hey, you wanna go watch tv?" Rigby asked, sitting up. "Rigby, you know Benson will yell at us if we do that." Mordecai answered.

"Not if we tell him that there aren't any more leaves. C'mon dude, no leaves are falling! Besides, if there is, we'll go get it.

"Ugh. Fine." They got up and walked back to the house. Rigby got to the couch and flipped the tv on, but Mordecai just stood in the doorway, watching the trees, still and no sign of giving any leaves away. One leaf, however, floated towards him.

Mordecai got it and held it. It was a golden, small leaf. Mordecai let it fly away.

The memory threatened to get him again, but he fought it off. Mordecai sighed and he stood straight.

"Hey Rigby," He called to Rigby. "I'm gonna go for a walk." And before Rigby could say anything, Mordecai walked out, closing the door behind him.

Rigby watched the bluejay walk towards the trees. "I wonder what's wrong..." He thought out loud.

Rigby just watched until he shrugged. "Maybe he just needs some air or something." Rigby then resumed watching the tv.

* * *

So there it is! Chapter one! Whaddya guys think? A small cliffie.

Plus, I need your help. The comic for Heartbreak isn't going well. I haven't even got the COVER started! I don't really have the time to do it on the computer, plus it's so much detail, so I need you all to vote for me.

Either I can draw it out on a sketchbook instead

or

I'll just cancel it and do minor art about it

Go to my poll and vote there, or leave you vote in your review, I don't care.

R&R, PLEASE vote, and I'll see you soon!

~Arristo~


	2. A Moment Alone

Hello! I'm back! Here's chapter two! Oh, and I'm still deciding on what to do about the Heartbreak Comic, so keep voting for me!

And, another song is waiting for you! I don't own it.

* * *

Mordecai sighed as he walked through the trees. Rigby was right. Everywhere he walked, there weren't any leaves on the ground at all.

But that didn't mean that there was a cold, autumn breeze blowing. Mordecai shivered, rubbing his wings. He should've brought his hoodie.

It didn't matter though. He really didn't care. All he cared about was the memory that had came up to him earlier. He couldn't shake it off. It just kept trying to take over him again, and again.

Mordecai just sighed. He rubbed his head, which had been hurting ever since he had been out here.

What caused the problem even worse was the empty feeling inside of him.

He felt alone.

_I walked across an empty land_  
_I knew the pathway like the back of my hand_  
_I felt the earth beneath my feet_  
_Sat by the river and it made me complete_

He felt like as if there was nothing with him. As if there was nothing in his life.

_Oh simple thing where have you gone?_  
_I'm getting old and I need something to rely on_  
_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_  
_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

He shivered as the wind suddenly picked up. Mordecai rubbed his wings for warmth.

_I came across a fallen tree_  
_I felt the branches of it looking at me_  
_Is this the place we used to love?_  
_Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?_

_Oh simple thing where have you gone?_  
_I'm getting old and I need something to rely on_  
_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_  
_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_  
_Talk about it somewhere only we know?_

Mordecai then came up to a bench, and so he sat down.

_This could be the end of everything  
__So why don't we go_  
_Somewhere only we know?_

He rested his head back with a sigh of relief, gazing up at the sky.

_Somewhere only we know..._

Most of the sky was covered in light gray clouds. Another sign of autumn.

He just about relaxed when out of nowhere, a searing pain ran through his head. He cried out in pain and grabbed his head. And another memory flashed before his eyes.

* * *

_Mordecai opened his eyes groggily and saw he was on the ground, surrounded by pine trees. Rain was pouring, and booms of thunder echoed through the air, while lightning flashed through the dark sky. He felt extremely tired, and he felt like he couldn't move._

_He felt some tingling in his wings. He weakly moved his head and looked at his wings. He saw a bunch of cuts, barely giving out any blood anymore. His feathers were a red-violet instead of blue._

_Mordecai slumped back against the tree. His eyes felt like heavy bags, just waiting to be dropped._

_Suddenly, her heard a voice. He weakly turned and barely managed to see two familiar figures. They weren't very far, and they were almost directly in front of him._

_He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, and they slid closed, letting him fall into darkness. He felt everything stop as he fell limp. The last thing he heard was footsteps, and a blood-curdling scream._

_Margaret's scream..._

* * *

The memory ended and Mordecai collasped to the ground, gasping. He sat up, shaking. His head hurt immensley, but the pain soon disappeared.

_Oh simple thing where have you gone?_  
_I'm getting old and I need something to rely on_  
_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_  
_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

Mordecai sighed and got up. He then started walking back to the house.

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_  
_Talk about it somewhere only we know?_  
_This could be the end of everything_  
_So why don't we go_  
_So why don't we go_

_This could be the end of everything_  
_So why don't we go_  
_Somewhere only we know?  
__Somewhere only we know_

_Somewhere only we know..._

Mordecai saw the house up ahead, and walked towards it, when...

_"You know you don't have to experience the pain, you know." _A mysterious voice said.

"What the-" Mordecai turned around, but there wasn't anybody with him.

_"You don't have to go through this anymore..."_

"Who's there?" Mordecai looked around him again. But still nothing.

The voice had disappeared as fast as it had came. Mordecai looked around him one more time, before continuing on.

_Who was that? _Mordecai thought. _It sounded like it was in my head, but, it sounded so real, like someone was there..._

* * *

And that's the end of this chapter! The song is Somewhere Only we Know By Keane. Oooh... Who was that voice...?

R&R, vote please, and I'll see you soon in the next chappie!

~Arristo~


	3. A Strange Encounter

Hello! I'm back! Here's chapter three!

* * *

Rigby flicked through the channels. So far, there wasn't anything interesting on. Rigby grumbled as he kept going and going.

He heard the door open and close, and Rigby turned and saw Mordecai come inside and into the living room. He sat down next to Rigby with a sigh.

"Dude, are you okay?" Rigby asked. Mordecai looked a bit pale, and his feathers were a little ruffled. "Yeah, I'm fine." Mordecai muttered blankly, looking towards the window.

Rigby turned back to the tv, flicking through the channels. Finally, he managed to find The Three Stooges.

Even though it was cheesy since it was in black and white, it was good enough. Rigby watched as one of them grabbed a hammer and whacked the other guy with it. "Cheesy." He mumbled.

"Oh crap. Rigby." Mordecai poked Rigby in the shoulder and pointed out the window. They both saw a bunch of trees shaking in the breeze, and most of the leaves fell off. "Ah!" Rigby jumped up and ran outside.

Mordecai followed, but stopped and turned around. He ran to his room and went to the closet, pulling out his green hoodie. He didn't wan't to feel the cold, so he put it on. He also grabbed Rigby's green sweater, since he didn't want Rigby to whine about it.

The bluejay was about to run outside, when his foot hit something. He looked down and saw an upside-down piece of paper. Mordecai picked it up and flipped it over.

A picture. A photo of Margaret he had gotten when she had given it to him as a gift to him.

Mordecai felt his head beginning to burn again, but he shook it off and dropped the picture. He came outside and found Rigby with the rakes. "Here." Mordecai gave Rigby the sweater, and they quickly started raking.

"Dude, if we don't get this done, Benson's gonna be pissed."

"I know! So shut up and hurry!" Rigby raked faster, only to accomplish ripping up the leaves. Mordecai groaned loudly, and raked the bits up into a small pile.

Pretty soon, the two managed to get it done. And just in time, because Benson was coming around the corner in the golf cart. Mordecai tossed the leaf-filled bag into the nearby trashcan.

"Hey Benson." Rigby said as the gumball machine came out of the golf cart. "Have you two finished the job?" Benson questioned. He looked around the park, and so far, there wasn't a single leaf on the ground.

Benson gave a nod of approval. "Well alright. But you two keep an eye out. Any leaf falls on this ground and I find it, you're both fired!"

The two nodded and Benson walked away. "You wanna play video games?" Rigby asked. "...Yeah." Mordecai answered.

They walked inside and came to the living room. Rigby turned on the tv, while Mordecai turned on the console, inserting the game _Dig Champs_.

"Dude, what setting is it again?" Rigby asked, who was pushing random buttons on the tv. Mordecai groaned. "Dude, move over."

Rigby went over to the couch, controller in paws. Mordecai scanned the buttons for Input, when his head started hurting again.

Mordecai gave a gasp in pain, trying to hold it in. The pain worsened, and Mordecai swayed a little. "Mordecai, are you okay?" Rigby asked.

The bluejay just nodded, and managed to press the Input button. The screen changed to to video game title screen, and Mordecai was going to walk to the couch, but he gasped in pain again and fell, slumping against the wall.

"Mordecai!" Rigby dropped the controller and ran to his best friend. Mordecai moaned and blinked. Everything looked like it was doubling, and the room was spinning a little.

"Dude! What happened? Did you trip or something?" Rigby grabbed the bluejay's wing and helped Mordecai up. "No... I don't know... I'll be right back." Mordecai shook his wing out of Rigby's paw and ran upstairs.

Rigby just watched Mordecai go upstairs, worried. "What the h was that?" He asked himself. He sat back down on the couch, waiting for Mordecai to come back.

_I hope he's okay._

* * *

Mordecai shut the bathroom door and slumped against it. What just happened? One mintue he was pretty fine, and the next minute he finds himself on the floor.

He got up and rubbed his forehead immensely. He hadn't felt this kind of pain before.

Mordecai came to the mirror, gripping the edges of the sink. He felt a small wave of nausea, but he briefly got over it.

The bluejay looked up in the mirror. His feathers were ruffled up a little, and though he could _barely_ see it, there were bags under his eyes.

"What's wrong with me?" Mordecai said, staring at the sink again. After "the experience", nothing like this had happened, which was weird.

Mordecai turned on the sink, splashing water onto his face. Grabbing a towel, he dried his face and beak. With a sigh, he looked back into the mirror, feeling a bit relieved.

He then turned to a nearby cabinet, where he could find aspirin. Maybe that would help him. But just as he was going to open it...

"Wait a second..." Mordecai squinted into the mirror, showing his reflection. His eyes were... slightly glowing?

Mordecai stared, completely confused. Suddenly, his reflection smiled, though Mordecai wasn't smiling at all. His body faded, leaving only his eyes and beak. Mordecai looked at his body, relieved that he had his body still.

He looked in the mirror again, and the eyes glowed brighter, turning a dull, creepy yellow. The beak disappeared, leaving the smile. What was Mordecai's reflection was now a pair of eyes and mouth.

"What the-?"

"There is no need to be afraid, Mordecai Quintel." The thing in the mirror assured. Mordecai gasped, backing against the wall, "How the h do you know me? What's going on here? Am I hallucinating?"

"No, you are not hallucinating Mordecai. I have no time for an introduction, but I do have just a bit of time to tell you that I know the reason for your pain." The thing said. Mordecai came a bit closer. "Really?" He asked.

"Yes. But I cannont explain now. My time is short and I must leave. But we will meet again. Perhaps, tonight, possibly?"

The thing winked and it faded away, and Mordecai's reflection came back. Mordecai just kept staring at the very spot where the face was.

He shook his head and came out of the bathroom. He went downstairs, and sat on the couch. Rigby, who was playing the game against the COMP player, pressed the pause button, and turned to him and said, "Dude, what happened?"

Mordecai shook his head. "Nothing. I just have a headache." Rigby's eyes softened a little. "You wanna play?" He asked.

"No, I'm think I'm good. Besides, I should keep an eyes out for anymore leaves." Mordecai then turned away and stared out the window. Rigby shrugged and continued playing.

Mordecai watched the trees gently shake in the autumn breeze. He imagined the face from the mirror on the window, and about what it had said, "But we will meet again. Perhaps, tonight, possibly?"

_What was that thing? _Mordecai asked himself._ And how does he know why my head keeps hurting?_

* * *

Geez, who, or what, was that thing? (Everyone stares) Don't look at me! I ain't telling you until later in the story!

R&R, and I'll see you soon in the next chappie!

~Arristo~


	4. Nightmares and Daydreams

'Ello! I'm back! Here's chapter four! A little fast update :)

* * *

The clock read 12:00 AM. The moon was full, and it illuminated the sky, as well as the stars.

That was the beauty of Midnight.

Mordecai and Rigby had gone to sleep hours ago. Rigby was out like a light as soon as he reached his trampoline. For Mordecai, it took a little while.

But now, he regretted that decision.

In their room, Rigby was asleep on his trampoline, tucked underneath his single blanket, his tail twitching every once in a while. But for Mordecai, that was a different story.

He tossed and turned like crazy, gripping the sheets underneath him. His head was giving off sweat and he kept moaning.

* * *

_He was in some kind of void. The background was nothing but gray. "How the h did I get in here?" Mordecai said._

_Then, he saw a dot in the distance. And it was coming closer. And closer, and closer, until it was suddenly right in front of him._

_It was a door. A deep shade of velvet, with a few scratches. Mordecai hesitated to go through it, but he didn't want to be stuck in this gray background. So he turned the golden knob, and entered._

_Now he was in some dark room. "Hello?" He called. No one answered. Mordecai walked slowly in the dark abyss._

_Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Mordecai yelped and shielded his eyes. When the light dimmed, he uncovered them._

_There was a huge hole, and it showed Mordecai, in the hospital. The very same hospital where he had went after commiting suicide._

_He was in the bed, unconscious, and Margaret was with him. She was crying, and was shaking him wildly. She then ran off, and the scene faded. Mordecai watched the whole time, when the pain came back through his head again. _

_He grabbed the sides of his head, hissing in pain. But it suddenly disappeared._

_Another scene took the hole's place, and it showed a brunette doctor with red glasses. (A/N: Try to guess who...) He held up some pads that had electricity hopping all over it. _

_T__hen he brought them down onto Mordecai's chest and sparks flew. Mordecai suddenly gasped as his chest suddenly started burning, along with his head as well, but much worse. _

_He clutched his chest with one hand and his head with the other. He cried in pain as it kept burning him. Soon, the pain ended, and his legs felt weak. He wanted to lie down so badly, but then the hole showed another scene._

_Margaret pulled back a sheet, and it revealed Mordecai's upper body. Mordecai knew what this was._

_He was dead at that time._

_He watched as Margaret's eyes gave away more tears, and she wiped most of them away. She sighed and leaned forward. Mordecai's eyes grew huge._

_She kissed him, their beaks touching for what it seemed like eternity. but she then pulled away. She stroked his head, feathers and all. And then the hole disappeared_

_Well, that did it._

_Mordecai sank to his knees, completely shocked. "S-she kissed m-me..."_

_The moment ended however, when he suddenly screamed. His head felt like it was on fire, and it kept increasing with every mintute. He fell on his back, his yells so loud, they could probably make someone go deaf._

_"M-Make i-i-it s-stop..." He gasped. "P-Please..."_

_Unfortunately, his wish didn't come true. Mordecai managed to get on his hands and knees. He then saw the ground glowing a bright green. Confused, he looked up._

_It was Death. Or Death's head, to be exact. He was glowing. He looked down at Mordecai and said, "How sad. I was hoping that you and that lovely miss would soon come together. But, no. See what you've done?"_

_He laughed, and he glowed brighter and brighter. Mordecai shielded his eyes. But as he raised his wing, it suddenly burned. Actually, his whole body was burning._

_Mordecai shouted in pain, and his vision faded into nothing but white... _

* * *

Mordecai screamed as he shot up into a sitting position. He was hyperventilating, and his forehead was covered in sweat. He looked around. He was in his room, in his bed.

The clock read 1:45 AM. He slowed his breathing down. "God, what a nightmare..." He gasped. He sighed and lied back down. He didn't feel like sleeping anymore.

He felt his forehead. His head was close to burning, and another small wave a nausea threatened to overcome him. He felt terrible.

A thought suddenly occured to him. _Wasn't that "thing" from the mirror supposed to show up by now? He said he would._

He stared at the ceiling. A spark of hope came into him. What if it was true? What if that thing really did know?

_He imagined the thing, with it's yellow eyes and smile, in the mirror talking to him. __It was giving him every detail about why he's feeling this pain, and how to stop it. _

_And when it stopped speaking, Mordecai would feel relieved, and he would come back to the house, and the pain would leave him for good._

_And when that would happen, things would be okay again, and nothing would hurt him for a long time..._

Mordecai smiled a little. He hoped or this to happen. Maybe if he called it, the thing would come.

"Well? Who or whatever you are, I'm waiting." He said. Silence.

"Please. If you really know why, tell me." He spoke again, but softer this time.

Nothing.

The bluejay sighed in disappaointment, losing his hope. Maybe he had been hallucinating after all. Mordecai kept looking at the ceiling, not saying another word.

He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

So we still don't know who or what this thing is huh? Well, lucky for you, the next chapter will tell you!

R&R, and I'll see you later!

~Arristo~


	5. A Small Yet Helpful Introduction

I'm back! Sorry if this took a little long, but I promise it's worth it :)

* * *

"Mordecai! Are you coming down or what?" Rigby called up the stairs. It had been two hours since Rigby had woken up, and he was waiting for Mordecai to come down.

"Dude! Are you even up?" Rigby shouted again. When no response came, he grumbled and was about to climb the stairs, when he heard a click and the door opened.

Mordecai staggered down the stairs. "Dude! You've been asleep for-" Rigby stopped in mid-sentence. The bluejay was almost as pale as a sheet, his feathers were completely messed up, and dark heavy bags could be seen under his eyes.

"Dude, are you okay?" Rigby asked, worried. "Yeah, dude I'm fine." Mordecai mumbled. His voice sounded a bit ragged and dry.

"Man, you look awful. Are you sick or something?"

"Rigby, I'm fine! I just didn't sleep so well. Seriously dude, just leave me alone."

"Okay. Sheesh I was just trying to help."

Mordecai sighed and went into the kitchen. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of orange juice. He grabbed a cup from one of the cupboards and poured some of the juice into it.

With just a few gulps, he drank the whole thing.

"Hurry man. Benson's going to be here any minute." Rigby said as he went out the door.

Mordecai gave another sigh and placed the cup in the sink. He turned on the faucet and splahed cold water onto his face, letting him wake up even more.

He came outside, where Skips, Rigby, Muscleman, High-Five Ghost, and Pops were on the stairs. Rigby scooted over, letting Mordecai sit down next to him.

Benson then came along with his clipboard. "Okay everyone, we have another busy day, so we need no slacking off." He pointed to the duo in the front. "That means you, Mordecai and Rigby."

Rigby rolled his eyes, but Mordecai simply nodded. "Alright. First, Skips, some of the shingles on the roof are falling apart, and we'll need you to cover that."

Benson continued on, "Muscleman, you and High-Fives Ghost have to clean out the boats at the dock." "You know who else has to clean the boats-" Muscleman started to say.

"Yeah we get it," Benson interrupted. Everyone sighed in relief. "Anyway, Pops, I need you to help me get some groceries at the market."

Pops giggled in excitement. "Oh, how wonderful!"

"And now, Mordecai and Rigby, you're going to coninue raking the leaves today."

"Yeah-yuh!" Rigby fist-bumped Mordecai, who was a little less enthusiasic, with a "hmph hmph" "_After_ you two dust the attic." Benson suddenly added.

Rigby, and a still less enthusiastic Mordecai, heard this and groaned loudly. "Now get to work. And NO slacking off!" Benson pointed out the bluejay and raccoon. Everyone headed into different directions.

Mordecai and Rigby went inside and up the stairs to the room where the attic door was located. Mordecai grabbed the step-stool while Rigby grabbed the feather dusters. They climbed up the stool and into the attic.

The place was barren,, except for many boxes. The air was warm and stuffy. Rigby coughed, and a little bit of dust flew into the air.

"Uh..." Rigby said. "How about you take... that side," Rigby pointed towards the left. "And I'll take the other side?"

Mordecai simply nodded. The two went to their sides and started dusting. Mordecai saw a small window and opened it, so that most of the dust can escape outside

"Ack! Aw sick!" Rigby coughed. Some of the dust had flown into his mouth. Rigby couched until a small little dust ball came out of his mouth.

Mordecai snickered. Rigby gave him a death glare. "Hey dude, it's not funny! I could've choked!"

The bluejay rolled his eyes and went back to dusting, as Rigby did the same. The two just dusted in silence.

Awkward silence.

"Hey, remember when we found Benson's old sodas up here and we had that Party Pete guy come over and he exploded?" Rigby said, trying to start a conversation in order to break the silence.

"Yeah." Mordecai waved his wings, sending some of the dust outside.

"And when we found that Summer Time Lovin', Lovin' in the Summer (Time) tape on the gutter and it got stuck in my head?"

"Mhm."

"And when we-"

"Dude, can you shut up for a few minutes? I have a headache!"

Rigby frowned. "Dude can you shut up for a few minutes, I have a headache," he mimiced Mordecai in a squeaky, lame voice. "Pfft, whatever. I was trying to make conversation. You're so quiet."

Mordecai sighed deeply and dusted the rest of the boxes. His head hurt quite badly, once again, and it made his mind fuzzy.

"I'm done." Mordecai then spoke after dusting the last box on his side. Rigby wasn't even halway done on his side. "Dude, wait for me." The raccoon said.

"Rigby we have to rake the leaves. I'm gonna start, and you can catch up when you're done."

Mordecai went down the stepstool, ignoring Rigby's groans. He went to his room and grabbed his green hoodie again. He put it on and went outside.

* * *

There was hardly any wind, but neverthless, a frail, gentle, cold breeze blew silently as Mordecai stepped outdoors. The trees shook gingerly in the wind.

Mordecai went to the shed, and grabbed the rakes. His head gave off a little pain, so he rubbed his head. He came out and looked around, and spotted some leaves nearby.

The leaves crunched underneath the thin metal claws as Mordecai gathered the leaves into a pile. He went to the shed again and came back with a couple of garbage bags.

Less than a minute later, the bag was filled and in the trash can.

Mordecai realized how much faster it had taken him to do the job. With Rigby, it would take a lot longer, and would probably summon up a monster or something.

He was about to look around for more leaves when he heard some giggling. Mordecai turned and saw two humans walking by the park fence. One of them was a guy with deep brown hair, and the other was a girl, with long ginger hair and freckles, and they were holding hands.

Even though they were pretty far, Mordecai could see them and hear their conversation.

"Brad, you're so funny! Is that what really happened to Gina?" The ginger girl asked.

"Of course Monica! I wouldn't lie to you, not at all." Brad responded. Monica giggled.

"Monica, there's something I have to tell you." Brad stopped walking and turned to Monica. Monica's smile faded from her face. "What is it Brad?"

"I loved you ever since we met. You are my only world to me, and nothing else matters. We've been together for three years, and I want to change that. So..."

Brad suddenly got down on one knee. Monica's eyes popped with surprise. "Monica Rimlery, will you marry me?" Brad pulled out a small box, and revealed the diamond ring inside.

Monica squealed, tears of joy pouring down her face. "Yes! Yes! I do!" Brad put the ring on Monica's finger and they embraced.

"C'mon, let's go celebrate." Brad said blissfully. Monica laid her head on his shoulder and they walked away.

"Oh Brad."

"Oh Monica."

Mordecai just watched them leave, and suddenly his head hurt more than ever. Before his eyes, he saw the memory when he thought Margaret had been engaged to her cousin, John. He saw him kneeling down and her facial expression, and the two of them embracing.

He walked backwards slowly, then turned and ran off to the nearest trash can. As soon as he got there, the wave of nausea finally got him, and he vomited.

As soon as he was done, he picked his head up slowly. He was pale as paper, and he was shaking as if he was shivering in the dreadful Antartica. He managed to stand straight, but just as he did, the world started spinning, and before he could think of anything, his eyes rolled up to his head and he blacked out.

Just as he did that, something moved on one of the trees. One of the branches shook, and then, on the trunk, a face appeared. Slowly, it creeped over to the ground next to Mordecai,...

* * *

Mordecai felt something touch his beak. He moaned slightly and started to open his eyes. _Did I just black out?_ He thought.

He blinked a little more as he tried to help his eyes focus better, and just as he did...

He was now looking at a pair of dull, creepy yellow eyes. "Hello." They said.

"Gah!" Mordecai yelped and jumped back. The eyes and mouth also backed away. Mordecai, breathing like crazy, looked at the eyes carefully. "H-Hey. You're the t-thing from the mirror yesterday." He said.

"Technically, Mordecai, I am not just a _thing_." The thing said. Mordecai cocked his head to one side. "Really?"

Suddenly, within a few seconds, the eyes and mouth formed a body. And soon, Mordecai saw the true form.

It was a cat, a gray tabby to be exact. But it also had some light blue stripes in his fur, which was natural. His ears were pointed, his paws were a lighter shad of gray, his whiskers were thin and nimble, and his tail was long, a little skinny, and had a dark tip.

"So, you see now?" The Cat asked, smiling, showing it's small, pointy teeth. "Uh... yeah..." Mordecai replied. "So tell me, you said you know why my head has been hurting?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Well, can you tell me now? Please?"

"As you wish. You see-"

Suddenly, a voice interuppted, "Yo Mordecai!" The two turned and saw Rigby running towards them on all fours. Mordecai groaned loudly, "Seriously?"

The Cat just smiled again. "I cannot be seen by anyone else but you, so I must go." He was about to fade, when Mordecai said, "Wait! Can't you like stay in some way where no one can see you?"

"Ah, yes. There is a way, but I'll need you to hold your left wing still." Mordecai gave a confused look, but obeyed. The Cat disappeared, and Mordecai felt a tingling feeling in his wing.

He looked and saw the cat's eyes and thin mouth on his wing. "Cool," Mordecai said in awe. "But you should blend in a little more, or else people think I have some tattoo on."

The Cat's eyes suddenly changed to a deep blue that blended in with Mordecai's feathers. "Alright, so if you talk, no one can hear you, right?"

_"That's right. I can only be heard in your thoughts."_ The Cat said in Mordecai's mind, which only Mordecai could hear very clearly.

"Dude! I'm done. Where do we start?" Rigby skidded to a halt. Mordecai snapped out of his brain and quickly said, "Dude, you could not get done in five minutes. Did you really clean?"

"What? Of course I did!" Rigby said (Shows flashback of Rigby wiping dust into a pile and hiding it behind a box)

"Okay... But if Benson tells us that we didn't dust right, I'm blaming you for that." Mordecai grabbed both of the rakes and handed one to Rigby, and the two started raking the leaves nearby.

Mordecai thought, _So, when do you think you can tell me? "Oh, it can be tonight, when everyone's asleep. That should be good for a talk. _The Cat's voice replied in his mind.

Mordecai smirked a little and went back to work, finally relieved that the answer to his problem would come in just a few mere hours...

* * *

It's the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland (2010 movie) by Tim Burton, but changed just a wee bit. I kind of gotten help for the idea from Anonymous Gwuy, or guy if it was a typo. Thanks man :) Ah, so that's what the thing was! Well, you'll expect him to come again in the next chapter! Sheesh this chapter was kind of long.

Also, if any of you know a little bit about the awesome show Spongebob Squarepants, then you'll probably recognize the Brad and Monica thing from the episode, Gary in Love. And NO it's not the Monica from the hospital from Heartbreak, It's a different one. :)

R&R, and I'll see you soon!

~Arristo~


	6. It Finally Comes

Hello! Chapter 6, whoohoo! And a song! I don't own it.

* * *

Mordecai couldn't sleep.

The clock read 11:25 PM. He was just lying there in his bed, staring off into completely nothing.

That was because he was afraid.

_I need some sleep_  
_You can't go home like this_  
_I try counting sheep_  
_But there's one I always miss_

He was afraid of going to sleep, thanks to the horrible night yesterday.

_Everyone says I'm getting down to low_  
_Everyone says, "You just gotta let it go"_  
_You just gotta let it go_  
_You just gotta let it go_

He didn't wan't any nightmares again, so he kept forcing himself to stay awake.

_I need some sleep, time to put the old horse down_  
_I'm in too deep, and the wheels keep spinning round_

_Everyone says I'm getting down to low_  
_Everyone says, "You just gotta let it go"_  
_You just gotta let it go_  
_You just gotta let it go_

His head kept nodding, and his eyes kept trying to close, but Mordecai fought it.

_You just gotta let it go_  
_You just gotta let it go_

"Don't go to sleep. Don't go to sleep." Mordecai kept saying to himself. He turned to his side, looking at Rigby, who was sound asleep. How lucky that idiotic raccoon was, not going through the state the bluejay was in.

_You just gotta let it go_

Mordecai gave a small groan, holding his stomach. It churned, and it burned his chest, thanks to the nausea, and not only that, but last time Mordecai checked, which was just a couple of hours ago, he had a pretty bad fever that was climbing slowly.

Overall, he felt like crap.

He turned to the other side, curling up into a little ball, trying to wrap the covers around him, but no matter what, he still felt as cold as ice, except for his chest. His eyes were extremely heavy, and they slowly, ever so slowly, began to close.

"Forgotten about me already, have you?"

Mordecai's eyes popped wider and he felt a small tingling sensation in his left wing. Then, in front of him, was the Cat, floating in thin air, even though he was in a belly-down position, his front paws crossed together, and his tail waving gingerly.

"Oh... I-I guess I did..." Mordecai sat up, resting against the backboard on his bed.

"It's quite alright. Things can slip from one's mind."

"So... where should we start?"

"That, actually depends on you."

"What?"

"You don't look in the right condition," The Cat floated slowly around. "I would advise you to wait a little longer until you're in good health."

"No! I'm alright!" Mordecai tried to sit up a little more, but his stomach turned again, and he winced in pain. The Cat half-closed his yellow eyes, his expression reading _Oh really?_

Mordecai lied back down. "C'mon. I really have to know." He spoke quietly, trying to not wake Rigby. The Cat though for a moment, until, "Very well. I know a way, but you'll need to close your eyes."

The bluejay grew still. "But... Can't you just tell me now?" His voice was filled wth fear.

"And why do you want that?"

"Just because..."

"Are you quite sure?"

Mordecai couldn't lie to the Cat's gentle, yet firm and truthful voice. "It's because... because..." He sighed. "Because I'm afraid."

"And why are you afriad?" The Cat lowered and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for a response.

"I'm afraid, because last night, I had the worst dream I've ever had," Mordecai's voice quavered. "I-I seriously don't want to go through it again..."

Moredcai's voice sounded so scared, so innocent, so child-like, in fact. And now if you look at him, you can see that he was pale, trembling, and dark, heavy bags laid underneath his eyes. He looked like a helpless child, afriad of everything.

"Mordecai, I give you my word that you won't experience any nightmare." The Cat spoke. Mordecai watched the Cat's tail, and just by watching the steady movements, he could tell that he was not lying.

So the bluejay slowly pulled the blankets up to his chest, resting his head on the pillow, and just by relaxing, his eyes slid shut almost immediately. Falling limp, his breathing became deep and slow. It seemed like he had fallen into unconsciousness instead of sleep.

The Cat smiled and faded into smoke, and crept towards Mordecai's head...

* * *

Mordecai opened his eyes, and sat up carefully. He was surrounded by nothing but white, and not a living soul was in sight. He stood up, saying, "Hello?"

"I'm here." Mordecai turned and saw the Cat in front of him. "Where are we?" Mordecai asked.

"Why, in your thoughts. But the most silent part of it."

"In my thoughts?"

"That is correct."

Mordecai nodded, when he felt his legs becoming weak. "So if this is my thoughts, then..." He closed his eyes, and a pure white bench appeared. "Sweet." He murmered, and he sat down. The Cat floated to him, hovering over the bench.

"Okay, _now_ can you tell me?" He said desperately. He couldn't wait for long. "Yes I can." The Cat smiled. And so he began to explain...

"What is happening right now Mordecai, what you're are going through, why you're feeling this pain. It's all part of something, and that is called Depression."

"Depression? That's it?" Mordecai looked at the Cat, confused. "Well, specifically, _the_ Depression," The Cat continued. "This isn't just the normal depression, Mordecai."

"This depression, is much different. First, you feel okay after what happened, in your case, your girl of your dreams left you. Next, you feel the pain, and memories appear before your very eyes, torturing you. And up to now, you said that you've had a nightmare, that's another part of the Depression."

Mordecai understood a lot more now. "So, what I'm going through... Is Depression. And, all of the things I've gone with, is all because of it?"

"That is correct." The Cat smiled. Mordecai was creeped out a little, but it was a lot more clear now, but there still was something missing.

"Okay, now, I just need one more thing. How can I stop this? How can this all end?" Mordecai asked.

"That. Will be saved for another time," The Cat responded. "I must leave, and you need some sleep." "But-" Mordecai started to say, when his vision began to dim.

"We'll talk about this sometime, just not today. Goodbye for now." The Cat faded like smoke, and Mordecai's vision faded away, leaving nothing but darkness...

* * *

The Cat re-appeared in the air, exactly where he was before he entered the bluejay's mind.

His dull yellow eyes watched the motionless bird, who was breathing slowly. One of his wings hung limp over the edge of the bed, indicating that he was truly asleep.

Mordecai shivered unconsciously and curled up a little bit more, then sighed, relaxing.

The Cat then flicked his tail, and disappeared from the room. From outside, the moonlight brightened the room, but if look closely at the window's reflection, you can see the Cat's shadow.

His eyes appeared, and with a wink, they, and the shadow, faded away...

* * *

If you're all wondering, this song really is this short. I Need Some Sleep, by Eels. (NOT the real fish, the singers XD )

R&R, and I'll see you soon!

~Arristo~


	7. Part 1 of The Solution

Hello! Chapter 7! Whew. I've been so busy, so it's not my fault that this update's late :( And I'm NOT going into details about it :/

* * *

Rigby woke up to the sound of something tapping loudly on a window, but then it stopped. However, a loud howl replaced it. Groaning, he blinked and got up, his tail dragging across the floor lazily. But when he reached the window, his tail jerked up immediately.

He didn't even dare to open the window. Outside, it was nothing but gray clouds all scross the sky. The trees were shaking madly, and even inside, you could hear the strong, invincible wind's loud, deafening howls.

"Holy crap..." Rigby muttered in awe. But what caught his attention was the trees. Everytime there was a strong gust, half of the tree's leaves would shake off and caught onto the wind. Some of them, however, fell to the ground.

Rigby groaned very loudly. "YOU STUPID LEAVES! Now we gotta rake again..."

He then turned towards Mordecai, who was facing his side of the wall, breathing slowly. "Dude, c'mon, we gotta get up." Rigby poked Mordecai's shoulder.

The bluejay didn't move. He just laid there, motionless, and breathing very slowly. "Dude... Come on." Rigby shook Mordecai's shoulder, but got the same response.

Nothing.

"Dude! Get up already!" Rigby shouted. Mordecai then groaned and turned over.

"Rigby, shut up, please..."

The raccoon suddenly got hit by a pillow in his face. "Hey!" Rigby turned angrily towards Mordecai. "Dude, I'm trying to sleep..." Mordecai moaned, grabbing the pillow off the floor and placing his head on it, falling back asleep.

"Mordecai, it's eight thirty in the morning. Benson's gonna be here soon!" Rigby protested, arms folded. Mordecai groaned and sat up slowly. "Fine." He grumbled. He slowly stood up from the bed, his body shaking. "Dude are you okay?" Rigby asked.

Mordecai just mumbled and walked to the door, but his vision went blurry for a minute and he swayed. He leaned against the wall for support and opened the door. Rigby followed behind him, but then stopped. Mordecai wasn't moving. He was just standing there in the doorway.

"Dude?" Rigby looked at Mordecai's face, and saw the bluejay's pale face, trembling beak, and glassy eyes. "Mordecai?"

The raccoon waved his paw in front of Mordecai's face, but nothing happened. That is, until...

Mordecai's pupils grew large, and his eyes rolled up to his head, and he collasped. Right on top of Rigby.

"GAH! Mordecai!" Rigby squirmed underneath Mordecai's body and came out. Gasping for breath, he looked at Mordecai's limp form, a worried expression on his face. "Mordecai!" Rigby shook, poked, even punched like a weenie. But no matter what, Mordecai wouldn't wake up.

Rigby got up and grabbed both of Mordecai's wings. He then dragged the bluejay's body back into the with a grunt, he pulled Mordecai onto the bed. Wiping a drop off sweat from his fur, he looked at Mordecai one more time before running out, calling out one word...

"SKIPS!"

* * *

"So phases one, two, and three have been completed." A figure spoke to something in complete darkness.

"Ah. Just like the rest of them. Perfect." A voice replied back to the figure. "And phase four should begin, I assume?"

"Yes. He's just fell over right now, which is the place where I'll begin."

"Excellent."

"Indeed."

A strange, dark bubble then appeared out of nowhere, and it glowed eerily. The two looked in it, focusing on the pictre that it showed.

"It's time." The voice announced to the figure.

The figure nodded and disappeared, but not before saying, "I must say, this one might just be a little different than the rest..."

The strange voice was left alone, thinking about what the figure had just said. Then it conjured some gray dust out of the air and sprinkled it onto the bubble...

* * *

Mordecai blinked and tried to clear up his vision. But something was urging him to close his eyes again. Nevertheless, he kept them open.

"Where am I?" he asked himself.

He was in some kind of room. It was small, neat, and tidy. There was a deep, mahogany brick fireplace, with a fire ablazing in the hearth, over a single, burning log, protected by a black, metal flue. Small piles of ashes laid just around it.

Around the fire place were some chair cushions, like the chairs you would find in a reading room in a mansion, and a small brown, wooden coffee table in between.

Mordecai was laying on a red velvet couch, his head resting on the arm part of it. Mordecai was about to get up, but he laid back down. Now to think about it, why should he get up?

The room was warm and cozy, the sound of the crackling fire sounded peaceful, and the couch he was on was soft and comfortable. He felt his forehead.

No fever.

He sat up. His stomach did nothing. He wasn't sick at all.

He sighed, a wave of warmth and sleep washed over him like a wave. It seemed that he didn't care about where he was right now, and so he laid back down and his eyes closed again.

A familiar voice suddenly echoed, "I would wait on that if I were you."

Mordecai's eyes opened again and he looked around, but there wasn't anyone around. "What... Anyone here?" He asked. Then, he heard a soft whoosh, and behind him, was the Cat.

"Hello, Mordecai." the Cat smiled, waving his tail back and forth. "Oh. It's you..." Mordecai sighed. "What is this place?"

"Oh, we're in your head again. But in a simple room."

"My head? I'm not sure if I think about rooms like this..."

The Cat chuckled, which sounded pretty creepy, but Mordecai ignored it. "We are in your head, Mordecai, but this place is more than just this one room."

"What do you mean?"

"You wanted to know how to stop your Depression, correct?"

"Well, yeah..."

"This is part of it..."

Mordecai was totally confused. Was this cat saying that inside his _head_ was the cure?

"Where we are now, is called The Crene." The Cat explained.

"The Crene?"

"Yes. As I said, there's a solution to this Despression. And there's two ways."

"Okay..."

The Cat raised his paw up and made a number one sign. "One," he said. "Is the way you all usually try to do. People say to just forget about it, and you try to push it behind you."

He then made a number two sign. "And two, is here. Everyone who can't fight it, comes here. Not necessarily in this room, but the Crene itself."

Mordecai was starting to understand, but before he could say anything, he felt something soft hit him in the head, and his vision started to fade once again.

"Tommorrow night, I'll take you to main part of the Crene. Like a little tour, you might say. And there, you may think about it." The Cat's body faded away, leaving the eyes and mouth. "Farewell, for now..." Then the mouth disappeared first, and then the eyes.

"Think about wha-?" Just after that, Mordecai's vision faded away...

* * *

Mordecai heard voices speaking in the background, but he didn't open his eyes to see them. Not that he wanted to anyway.

"So he just fell unconscious?"

"Yeah, right on top of me..."

He then moaned and opened his eyes sluggishly. He saw Skips, who was kneeling against Mordecai's bed, with an impatient, worried Rigby behind him.

* * *

So there it is. Chapter 7. And most likely Chapter 8 will come quick, since it's summer! WOOOOOOO! (Summer Time Lovin', Lovin' in the Summer (Time) song starts playing) 0_0... AAAAUUGGHHH!

R&R, and I'll see you soon!

~Arristo~


	8. Suffering

Heydo! Chapter 8! So sorry for the late update. Busy. And, again, I'm NOT going into details about it...

* * *

Mordecai opened his eyes once again, for the fifth time already. His mind was a big blur, before he remembered that he was greviously ill. And to prove it, his stomach churned, making Mordecai grab is stomach with pain.

After he had woken up earlier, Skips inspected him before telling Rigby, and also Mordecai himself, that Mordecai had a severe fever, an upset stomach, and internal chest burning. Although it wasn't very, very serious, it was bad enough.

So Mordecai was told to rest and drink plenty of water until it manages to blow off. He wouldn't have to work today, or for the rest of the week.

Not that today mattered, since the winds from outdoors made it impossible to work through without messing up or being knocked over.

Rigby then went downstairs to get some cereal, while Skips went out to tell Benson about the weather and Mordecai, but before he left, he stared at Mordecai for a moment, not saying a word, with a blank expression on his face, before shutting the door.

The bluejay looked at the alarm clock. 11:30 AM. He had waking up and falling asleep for a period of time that he couldn't remember. Maybe every half-hour?

Groaning, he turned to his side, letting his wings fall limp. His eyes started sliding shut, when his hand hit something. He looked down and saw a white piece of paper.

Confused, he weakly picked it up, and in well-written handwriting, it read:

_Get Well Soon Mordecai! I left you a little something that'll help you feel better._

_From: Pops_

Smiling, he felt something on the back of the paper. Mordecai turned it over and found two lollipops taped together. One was golden, while the other one was a light green. _Pops probably left me this while I was asleep_. He thought

"Thanks Pops." Mordecai mumbled, taking off the green sucker from the tape. The other one he would save for later. Despite what his stomach felt like, he ate the green lollipop. Green apple flavored.

Throwing the stick into the garbage, and taking a quick sip from his cup of water that was right beside his bed, he turned over onto his other side, and ignoring his stomach's jolts of pain and sickening feelings, he fell back into his dreamless sleep.

Only this time, he didn't open his eyes again during the next half-hour, or the hour after that...

* * *

_"Jerry! I told you NOT to mess with Mister Kin-Kin! He's playing with his kids and doesn't want to be bothered!"_

_"And I told YOU, Mario, that Mister Kin-Kin is a Misses Kin-Kin! She gave birth to her kittens a week ago! And I have to help her kittens eat!"_

_"So why is he hissing at you? Hm?"_

_"It's SHE! ANd she's hissing because YOU are here!"_

_"He is not!"_

_"Oh yes she is!"_

_"Is not!"_

_"Is to!"_

_"Wanna bet?"_

_"You're on, dumbface!"_

Rigby burst out laughing as the two stupid men starting beating each other up. "These guys are total idiots." He said to himself.

_"Tune in next week for a sneak peek at Mister Kin-Kin-"_

_"That's MISSES Kin-Kin!" Jerry yelled as he grabbed a pot._

_"-Giving birth to these kittens on the J and M show! Goodbye folks."_

Wiping a tear from his eye, Rigby calmed himself down. Still chuckling, he went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, gulping it down. It was hard though, since he was still trying not to laugh.

But then his laughter faded away. He thought about Mordecai.

He was seroiusly confused. How did Mordecai get this sick? It was just a few days ago when Mordecai was fine, and now, he's terrible.

It wasn't really the same without Mordecai with him right now. It was completely boring.

Placing the cup into the sink, he silently went upstairs and opened the door. He walked in and looked at Mordecai's sleeping form.

He was pale as a sheet, so pale, even his blue feathers were lighter. Sweat was on his top feathers, and he was trembling unconsciously. His fists were clenched, and they would twitch slightly. His chest was a pale pink, most likely from the chest pain.

It just made Rigby feel sick himself just to see his best friend suffering like this.

With a sigh, Rigby tiptoed out of the room, shut the door, and came to the living room and turned the gaming system on. The title screen for Dig Champs came on, along with it's theme song.

As he entered COMP player, Rigby thought, _I hope you'll be alright..._

* * *

Chapter 8! We're almost nearly halfway through this story...

And also, I'm starting to make art for my stories, bit by bit. And if any of you have any requests, such as OC's, scenes from yours or my stories, or other stuff, then I'll be taking those requests :) So if you do, then keep an eye out for it on my dA page (Remember, my name's ThemKoolBeans).

One more thing. Jerry and Mario's quotes are made up by me, so if you see these anywhere else, it's a TOTAL coincidence.

R&R, and I'll hopefully see you soon!

~Arristo~


	9. Death by Cold

Hi there! Chapter 9, here we go! Oh, and I got started making the characters that starred in my stories so far. Only two so far, but they're important! Check my dA!

* * *

Mordecai opened his eyes slowly and sluggishly. He blinked, trying to clear up his vision. When it did, he saw moonlight filling up the room. "Night already?"

He saw Rigby asleep on his trampoline, tucked under his blanket. "God, how long was I out?" Mordecai groaned, rubbing his eyes. He looked at the clock. 1:26 AM.

"Whoa..." Mordecai blinked. He felt like doing something at that time and tried to sit up, but his stomach churned and his chest filled with pain and he laid back down. "Come on..."

Determined, he tried again, but this time, he slouched over a little bit, so his stomach would ease down.

Then, he started walking over to the door. Every step hurt, but where he was going wasn't that far. His wing reached the door and slowly he turned it...

* * *

Mordecai sighed and breathed heavily as he sat down on top of the toilet lid. His whole body was aching. "God, that was painful..." he sighed. He weakly stepped towards the bath and turned the knob, and water flowed from the spout.

Mordecai ran his wing through the running water, adjusting it carefully and testing the temperature. Then, he pulled the small lever above it and the water turned off, then flowed from the shower spout.

After letting his wing test it, the temperature was now warm, just right. Mordecai, with almost three quarters of his strength, he climbed in and closed the shower curtain.

The minute the water touched his chest, it burned at first, but it soothed within a matter of seconds. With a deep sigh, Mordecai let the water flow onto his feathers, soaking him immensely.

After a bit, Mordecai grabbed the nearby bar of soap, and washed his feathers, making sure he was clean all over. Afterward, he placed the soap back.

Slowly, he turned up the temperature, and the water slowly rose it's temperature. Mordecai moaned and sighed as a chill ran through him, and then warmth flushed in, replacing the bitter cold.

Finally, after what it seemed like eternity, Mordecai shut the water off. He grabbed a towel and dried himself, and when he was done, he felt refreshed and relieved.

Yet his illness was still taking over him.

Slowly he walked back to the door and came into the hallway, and closed the door behind him. He came inside the bedroom.

Mordecai shivered, rubbing his wings for warmth as he headed back to his bed. Compared to the shower, it seemed like thirty degrees colder.

"Dude, where were you?" Mordecai turned and saw Rigby sitting up on his trampoline.

"Taking a shower. Why?" Mordecai got into his bed, curling up under the covers. "I just heard the shower in the bathroom turn on, and you were gone, so..."

"It's cool man, just go back to sleep." Mordecai turned onto his side facing the wall. Rigby yawned and laid back down and less than a second, he was snoring.

Mordecai shook from the chills and pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. His chest burned and his head felt light and disoriented.

He stared at the wall, until his eyes slowly closed...

* * *

_Snow was falling down gently, covering the ground in a blanket of snow. "Dude! It snowed!" Rigby yelled, racing outside. He wore a green sweater, with a scarf, and snow boots._

_Mordecai came out, wearing his gray hoodie, a beanie, a scarf, and tall, furry boots. "Man, it must've came seriously early this year." He said, before a snowball hit him in the face. Mordecai shook the snow off and saw Rigby laughing. Smiling deviously, Mordecai gathered a good amount of snow, and struck the raccoon with it._

_Rigby went flying and landed into the snow, buried in a big mound except for his feet and arms. He poked his head out, shaking the snow off with a scowl. "Oh it is ON!"_

_Mordecai laughed and gathered more snow as he ran from the raccoon. Rigby gathered more snow and made a few more snowballs. He threw them as he ran, but missed repeatedly._

_"Dude, you're not gonna get me!" Mordecai laughed. He threw a snowball at Rigby, striking him in the face. Rigby shook it off and got on all fours. The bluejay looked at the raccoon gaining on him and with one step, moved towards the left. Rigby, who was running way too fast to stop, crashed into a nearby snowman._

_Mordecai laughed hard as Rigby fell out of the half-snowman, half-snow pile. "Shut up!" Rigby yelled, making Mordecai laugh harder. He stopped however, when he saw what was behind Rigby._

_It was a snowmen land or something. Everywhere there seemed to be a snowman. Each one was dressed in hats, scarves, some even had those old smoking pipes. Some others looked like girls, with hair made of snow or from a wig, wearing berets, beanies, and fashionable scarves._

_"Dude! Look at all these snowmen! Let's destroy them!" Rigby said. Mordecai smiled, and both yelling like warriors, they charged. Rigby punched a snowgirl through the middle, while Mordecai destroyed two snowmen at once! THey both continued this until they reached a big one, bigger than the rest._

_It was a snowwoman, with hair made of snow, rocks used for eyes, and long stick arms. "Dude, this is the big one!" Mordecai smiled. "Do it man!" Rigby cheered. The blujay made a fist, and was just going to punch it..._

_When a huge gush of wind pushed them both, sending them flying and landing on the ground. The two groaned, while Mordecai lost his beanie and scarf, and saw the snowwoman's eyes glowing, and then her mouth opened wth a scream. She started growing bigger and bigger until she reached about half of the height of a skyscraper._

_"What the..." Mordecai gasped. "How dare you destroy my babies?" She cried madly. She waved her hand._

_A glowing orange orb suddenly surrounded the bluejay. Mordecai yelled and pounded on the wall, trying to get out, but nothing happened. He banged his shoulder against it, but on the fifth blow, a searing pain ran through it. He yelled in pain__ and fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder in agony._

_The orb suddenly rose. Mordecai saw the ground leaing him and rose up to the sky until he reached the snowwoman's shoulder. "HEY! LET HIM GO!" Rigby angrily charged towards the snowwoman. Just as he did, in one motion, the snowwoman flicked her fingers, and Rigby soared up and landed back onto the ground, disappearing in the distance. "Rigby!" Mordecai shouted, banging on the orb harder._

_"This'll teach you for messing with my babies!" The giant snowwoman roared, and made a big snowball in her stick hand. Then, she blew on it, and the snowball disintegrated, and the snow flurries blew into the orb._

_At first, the snow fell into a small pile, but then the orb turned blue, and the snow started swirling inside, just like a blizzard. __The snow blew all around Mordecai, faster and faster, making it even more colder. "You see this?" The snowwoman conjured a giant thermometer, with the line almost at the top._

_"Until the line reaches that line there, you only got that long to live." The snowwoman explained evily, pointing to a line with a skull right next to it. The snow blew harder, and the line started to drop. _

_Not even his sweater could handle this much cold. Mordecai shivered and banged against the orb even harder, but nothing would work. "Please! We're s-sorry f-for destroying y-your, erm, babies! L-Let me out! It w-won't e-ever happen again! I-I s-swear!" Mordecai cried desperately._

_The snowwoman made a thinking position. "Hmm... Let me think..." The snowwoman smiled. "No!"_

_His legs turned numb from the cold, and he collasped onto the base of the orb. The snowwoman cackled as the snow blew harder. Mordecai desperatly tried to get back up, but the feeling in his legs was slowly going away._

_He wrapped his wings around his knees, breathing for warmth. It felt like twently degrees below zero, and dropping. Nothing was going to get him out of here. The cold was becoming too much to bear._

_Soon it'll all be over._

_Mordecai suddenly heard a yell. Looking up, he crawled over and placed his hands onto the wall and wiped away the frost. Rigby, Skips, Benson, Pops, Muscleman, and High-Five Ghost, all dressed in coats except for High-Five Ghost were all coming. Even though this was a moment for relief and joy, Mordecai couldn't bring himself to smile._

_"You're too late! His time's almost up. There's nothing you can do." The snowwoman laughed wickedly. Mordecai weakly turned and saw the huge thermometer. The red line was dropping rapidly, and it was getting nearer and nearer to the skull line._

_"Mordecai!" Rigby yelled. He gathered a snowball, packing it hard and tight and threw it at the orb, hoping to break it open._

_Mordecai screamed as the wet ball smacked him right there onto his chest. The freezing cold seared through his body, and the remaining bits of the snow joined in with the swirling storm. The thermometer dropped a little faster._

_"You fool! If you try to break that open, you decrease his time even more!" The snowwoman told. Then, she roared and started launching numerous snowballs at the group. Mordecai could do nothing but watch as his friends (well, Muscleman and Fives being "aquaintances") dodge the balls and throwing some back._

_"You mean snowwoman! You let Mordecai go!" Pops told the snowwoman. "Pops, talking's not going to make this easier!" Benson yelled, throwing even more snowballs._

_As the snowballs smacked the snowwoman, she just smiled, and started growing. The snow that was adding to her made her stronger and bigger._

_Mordecai slumped down at the bottom of his cold prison. His energy was decreasing, as well as the temperature, and the thermometer was getting a lot closer to the skull line. Trying once more, he banged weakly against the orb, but again, nothing. He let his wings drop as the mere bit of energy started leaving him._

_He felt his eyes closing, but even as he fought it hard, it took over him, and his eyes closed lightly._

_Rigby stopped to see Mordecai drop down in the orb. This made him even more angry and he threw more snowballs, but nothing seemed to weaken this huge pile of snow. "Man this isn't working!" He cried. Hs dropped down to the ground as a huge snowball flew over his head. Benson caught the impact and was knocked down. More flew and knocked down Muscleman and High-Five Ghost. (Even though he was a ghost.)_

_Rigby thought hard for once in his life, then realized something. "Skips! I got an idea!" Rigby yelled. "Pops, keep her distracted!" The yeti and raccoon raced back towards the garage, while Pops ran around, dodging every snowball he possibly could._

_Mordecai opened his eyes. He managed wipe away a small portion of the frost to see Pops running around. Where's everyone else? He thought. He saw Benson, Muscleman, and High-Five Ghost on the ground. But he didn't have the energy to see two others coming this way. His eyes slid shut once again, his head resting against the wall, facedown._

_Skips and Rigby ran back towards the group. They were carrying a large flamethrower. "Pops! Get over here!" Skips yelled. Pops ducked from an oncoming snowball and ran over to them, grabbing hold of the giant machine. Rigby ran towards everyone else and they all grabbed onto the flamethrower. Skips then pulled the ignition, and a flame shot out, but it died out._

_"It needs more power!" Rigby yelled. He turned and saw a huge gas tank at the garage door. "There!" Rigby ran towards it and grabbed it. Racing back, he flipped open the small cover and dumped the gas in it. "This better work!" Benson shouted._

_"Yeah! Light that baby up!" Muscleman shouted. Rigby flipped the switch and a huge wall of flames flew out. "WHOOO!" Muscleman whooped. The group came closer to the snowwoman. She grew frightened, but then smiled. "There's no point of doing that. His time's already up."_

_She was right. The line of the thermometer was already reaching the skull line. Then, it reached it._

_"He's already gone! And you'll be next!" A giant snowball was thrown at the group, but they managed to melt it. Then, as they came closer, Skips slowly raised the power and as i reached the top, the flames grew large._

_Mordecai opened his eyes one more time. He saw a huge wall of flames flying towards the snowwoman, and she screamed. Immediately she started to become water. "NO!"_

_As she melted, the orb started shaking and spinning, going faster and faster. Mordecai tried to sit up but fell back at once. He couldn't feel anything. Looking down, his body, NOT his feathers, was a light blue and they were becoming a deeper blue by the minute from hypothermia. Even though he was going to be saved, he didn't have much time left, for the thermometer had gone past the skull._

_His freezing prison started cracking. The walls were starting to break, and for a moment, it all stopped. There was dead silence._

_With a deafening crash, the orb shattered. Mordecai was flying backwards, from everyone. Mordecai didn't even bother to try to break his fall. He was almost gone. As he saw the trees fly by, his eyes fell closed and they opened no more._

_The last thing he heard was the deafening sound of his impact with the snow and ground. He let his wings fall out on both sides of them. The sounds of footsteps and shouts of his friends, Rigby being the loudest were coming. But they were too late._

_Then it all faded away, and he was gone for good..._

* * *

Mordecai's eyes shot open like bullets, and he gasped, sitting up. Hyperventilating, his eyes scanned the room. He fell back with a heavy sigh of relief. His chest burned immensely, but it didn't matter.

After that nightmare, there was no freakin' way he would go back to sleep. It seemed too real. And it didn't make sense. It wasn't even winter! But it was probably from the cold he was feeling ever since he woke up.

The bluejay wrapped as much blanket as he could around him. He could pratically feel that cold air. Glancing at the clock, he only had five hours until dawn.

He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

Chapter 9! We're halfway through this story... Or was it chapter 7-8 that was the half point? Oh I forget XD

R&R, and I'll hopefully see you soon!

~Arristo~


	10. Part 2 of The Solution

Hi there! I am so so sorry this is a late update, but I've been busy because I'm packing up for Calfornia and leaving tommorow, so you won't hear from me for a week... But this chapter's worth it! I promise.

* * *

As Rigby woke up, he felt that something wasn't right.

At first maybe the weather, because it was nothing but a dark, gray blanket across the whole sky. But that was also another part of the autumn season. Though it wasn't like that the first day of autumn, or a few days after...

Maybe he needed a shower, or just needed something to eat, but it didn't really feel like that.

None of those things were the main reason.

But then, as got up, he glanced at Mordecai in his bed, and nearly jumped back in fright.

Mordecai was just lying there, staring at the ceiling. His fingers twitched slightly, and his half open eyes were bloodshot dark from lack of sleep. It looked as if he wasn't even awake at all. "...Dude?" Rigby asked after a long silence. Mordecai's eyes opened more. "What?" he asked.

"A-Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm cool man."

"You don't look like that..."

"Rigby, I'm fine, alright?"

"Seriously, did you even sleep last night?"

"..."

"Did you?"

"...Yes and no..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I did sleep, sort of..."

"Did you wake up before me?"

"Yeah, for...mhm... seven..."

"Minutes?"

Mordecai shook his head. "Hours..." he mumbled. Rigby's eyes popped. "You stayed awake for seven hours straight? That's like the whole freakin' night!"

"It's not that bad..." Mordecai yawned, starting to get up. "Uh, dude, it is!" Rigby frowned. He tried to push Mordecai back into bed, but as always, he was too weak to do that. "Dude..." Rigby grunted. "You seriously... need... to sleep! You heard Skips say to get some rest!" Rigby pushed harder, but Mordecai fought back, and knocked Rigby over.

Rigby groaned as Mordecai slowly opened the door. He gave an angry sigh and followed the bluejay. Mordecai walked against the railing for support as he went downstairs. Yet somehow, after not sleeping, he felt completely fine. Mordecai walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard.

Rigby got his hopes up, thinking that Mordecai would want to do the "Combine" with the milk and cereal that they liked to do. Unfortunately, Mordecai already grabbed the milk and cereal, and was pouring himself a bowl. With a sigh, Rigby grabbed a bagel from the pantry and got the toaster.

Mordecai ate his cereal quietly as he watched Rigby sturggling with the toaster, before finally shoving the bagel into the slot and yanking the lever down. "Stupid toaster..." Rigby grumbled.

Mordecai chuckled quietly. "What's so funny?" Rigby asked. "You shouldn't be hating on the toaster, or a bagel Rigby. It's pretty idiotic." Mordecai replied.

"So? The toaster wouldn't take it!"

"Rigby, you were trying to put it in sideways when it was clear that it was supposed to put it in straight! It was no wonder you couldn't put it in!"

"STOP TALKING!"

Mordecai shook his head and finished his cereal. He gulped down the milk and threw the bowl and spoon in the sink. Suddenly, he smelled something, kind of a burnt smell. "Rigby, do you smell that?" he asked.

"Yeah, what is- Oh crap." Rigby turned to the toaster, which was giving off some smoke. Mordecai immediately unplugged the toaster and punched the side of it, making the bagel pop out, and onto the counter. "Rigby! What the H? How high did you set this?" Mordecai asked, waving away the smoke out the window. Rigby, who wasn't paying attention, had his bagel on a plate. "Aw dude... The stupid toaster burnt my bagel..." he whined.

"That's what you get." the bluejay smiled. "Shut up!" Rigby yelled, taking a bite of the charred bagel with a scowl on his face. Mordecai walked out of the kitchen, sitting down on the couch in the living room. He grabbed the remote and turned the tv on.

"And coming up next after these messages, is the movie, K.O. Punch 3, the classic boxing movie by Joe Harris." a t.v. announcer spoke on the screen.

"Dude! I love that movie! Don't change it!" Rigby raced into the living room the minute Mordecai was about to press the button to change the channel. "You like that movie?" Mordecai asked. "Dude, that movie was one of the best!" Rigby said happily. Rolling his eyes, Mordecai placed the remote down, letting Rigby sit down to him.

Soon, the movie came on, and pretty soon, Rigby was making air punches, yelling, "Come on! Get him YellowMask! Augh! Stupid KnockOut Guy..."

Mordecai smirked and sighed, shaking his head. Rigby was too into this. He turned towards the wondow, staring out into the gray, cloudy sky. Tiny rays of sunlight were peeking out, but the rest was a drab, thick blanket of cloud. The trees swayed in the wind, but none were too threatened to lose their leaves.

He felt his body slowly shutting down as his mind became a blur. Mordecai laid back, relaxing, before closing his eyes for a moment's rest...

* * *

He opened his eyes again to find himself in a dark green place, melded together with gold and silver. Standing up, he saw no living thing in sight. "Hello?" he called out.

There was a soft whoosh, and with a cloud of smoke, the Cat appeared, smiling as always. "Hello Mordecai. So good to see you." he said. "Oh, hi..." Mordecai replied back. "Where are we?"

"Don't you remember? Your tour for the Crene. It's today."

"I thought it was tonight!"

"A slight change of plans..."

"Oh..."

The Cat flickered his tail, and an opening, filled with a white light, appeared in front of them. "This way." The Cat moved aside, and slowly, Mordecai walked into the doorway. The light became brighter, and Mordecai shielded his eyes as he walked, until, there was no light.

Placing his wing down, his jaw dropped at the sight. "Oh...my..."

It was like he was in some kind of royal palace. The place was huge, with gold and brown mixed together into marble-like walls. There were many doors, almost ten of them, all polished and made of cherry wood. Mordecai looked at the ceiling. It was dome-shaped, blue, and had a gold outlining. "Whoa..." he breathed.

"Marvelous, isn't it?" The Cat came floating up to Mordecai, who simply nodded in response. Chuckling, he floated away, while Mordecai followed. They came up to a small wooden drawer, where the Cat opened it and pulled out a single, brass key. "This is where we'll begin..." The Cat floated towards the first door, and unlocked it. He opened it, and they went in.

The place was a meadow, with bright, green, lush grass, and small flowers. The sky was a bright blue, like it was the middle of the day, while some clouds rolled slowly across the sky. "This is the Outdoor County room. Like a green room for actors, but it's for when you feel a taste for outdoors." The Cat explained. Mordecai walked around in a small circle. The grass was real, the small breeze was real, everything was real. "Does it change in here? Like during seasons and the time of day?" he asked.

"Yes, but even though it's very much almost autumn where you live, everyone had the taste between spring and summer."

"Everyone? You mean there's other people here?"

"See for yourself."

Mordecai turned and walked a little further, and was taken aback.

There were many people here. Mostly humans, but there were also animals, like a few wolves, a pigeon girl, three weasels, some cats,and even a kangaroo. They were all hanging out, doing things here and there. A group of guys were laughing together, while a group of girls were giggling, looking at one of the girl's phone.

"Are there more people besides here?" Mordecai asked, still staring at the people below. "Yes, and you will see them during the rest of the tour." The Cat smiled.

The rest of the tour went down perfectly. There was also a room with many foods for eating, a room that was countryside, for anyone who felt a little laid back. A city, like the one Mordecai lives near, a room with many houses and apartments, and others were entertainment, like a sports room, a movie theatre, etc.

There were now two more rooms. The two entered one of them, revealing a pure white room. "This is the Silent Room, where anyone who needs time for thinking alone." The Cat whispered.

Mordecai looked around, and found just one person sitting on a bench in here. It was a human man, with a purple t-shirt, long black pants, and gray shoes. He had blonde hair, that was combed back. _He seems like a cool guy..._ Mordecai thought.

They were about to leave, when the guy got up. He turned around, and jumped back at the duo. "Whoa. You two were so quiet!" he said, surprised.

"That's why the doors arn't old and squeaky." the Cat replied. "Anyway, is he new?" the man pointed to Mordecai.

"Not really. He's just getting a tour."

"Oh. Well, it's cool to meet you. I'm Cole. Cole Curtis." Cole held out his hand, and Mordecai shook it, smiling. "Mordecai. Mordecai Quintel." the bluejay introduced himself.

"What are you here for?" Cole asked. "I'm here because I was raised in an orphanage, with no parents or friends, for almost twenty-five years."

"Wow... Well, I had a crush on someone, but she just kept having boyfriends all the time. We've gotten close, but I couldn't handle it anymore."

"Geez, that's awful. But I promise you, I know you'll like it here! It pretty much has everything! You know there's an awesome one-hundred flavored slushie machine in the eating area right?"

"There is? That's so awesome!"

For a few minutes Mordecai and Cole talked together, until the Cat said, "I don't wish to interuppt, but Mordecai, it's time for you to meet the Head man of this place."

"Oh yeah, everyone's gotta meet him. You better go dude." Cole agreed.

Mordecai nodded. "Hey, hope to see you later Mordecai!" Cole waved. "Yeah! See ya!" Mordecai waved back.

The two exited out of the room, re-entering the main room. The Cat then recieved a stone gray, small key from the drawer. "Now Mordecai, the Head man is a bit... different than from everyone else you've seen so far. So when you see him, don't be so shocked, okay?"

Mordecai nodded. If 'different' meant the kind of different that Mordecai was thinking, then it won't be much of a shock.

The Cat opened the door, unlocking it with the key. With a loud, long creak, the door opened. Mordecai stepped inside, and the Cat closed the door behind him.

Inside was pretty dark, but Mordecai could see that the background was a deep, deep purple. There wasn't any furniture in here. "He's over there," the Cat said. Mordecai looked at where the Cat pointed, where it was really dark. He turned, looking at the Cat, who simply nodded. Then, Mordecai walked slowly towards it, the Cat staying behind.

Mordecai saw nothing, until a small ball of light appeared, which brightened almost half of the area. Yet, there wasn't anyone here. That is, until...

"Ah, you must be Mordecai Quintel, I presume?" a creepy, dark, and yet reasonable voice suddenly spoke.

Mordecai looked around, until something came towards him. It was hard to tell who it was, until it was right in front of him.

It was a light tan guy, who was seemed to be in his mid-thirties, and just about a half-foot bigger than Mordecai. He was like some dark version of a rockstar. He had wavy, dark brown hair that went all the way to the bottom of his neck, and a semi-thin dark brown mustache. His clothes included a leather jacket, a t-shirt underneath, jean-like pants, strapless leather shoes, all black. Hie makeup was even black, though he only wore eyeshadow. A long, silver chain was hooked onto one side of his pants to a few inches further, and he wore a silver, skull ring on his left hand.

All in all, he wan't too bad.

"Yeah, erm, I am." Mordecai responded, looking at the man, a bit surprised. When he though 'different', he wasn't thinkng of a rockstar...

"Ah, good. Very good. And I presume you already have gotten your tour around?" the Head Man smiled. "Uh... Oh, yeah..." Mordecai replied. "Good, good..." The Head Man nodded slightly. "So, Mordecai, as you know, the Crene, is for anyone who is experiencing 'the Depression'. And you, well, has gotten the very best of it so far."

He continued on. "Here, there are no troubles, no pain, nothing that has to do with being hurt by love or by experience through time. Everyone here is happy and get along very well. And, I see you've met Cole as well. One of the best, but one of the worst of experiences. Poor lad, going through that orphanage..." the Head Man shook his head sadly.

"And so, you Mordecai, went through a love break? With your crush, Margaret, right? Well, here, none of that happens here."

Mordecai nodded. This place seemed pretty cool...

"And so, I am giving you a decision."

Mordecai looked at him, a little more surprised. "A decision?" he asked. "Yes, a decision. Two choices," the Head Man said. "One, you can join here and live on with no worries. But alas, there's an exception. None of your friends from your outside world cannot come with you, nor see you again. You completely will be here."

The blue jay nodded slowly, understanding. "And two, is that you can say no, and stay in your outside world, with your friends and such. But, your Depression will continue to effect you, for a long time, getting worse and worse, until you overcome it somehow, and things will return to normal..." The Head Man finished.

Mordecai's mind was going over every word that Head Man had said. This was a pretty good decision, but what would he choose?

"So, Mordecai, what do you say?" the Head Man asked. Mordecai looked at him. "Um...Well..." he tried to say, but he hadn't made a decision yet.

"Not to worry, both decisions are completely fine. But if you need to think over it, than I will give you time. For now, you must return back to your world. The Cat will get you there." the Head Man whistled, and the Cat appeared. "This way Mordecai," The Cat gestured Mordecai to the door. The two came to it, and Mordecai turned once before shutting the door.

"Farewell Mordecai. We'll meet again..." The Head Man called out as the door closed.

The Cat and Mordecai entered to the main hall once again. But this time, they went through the doors that lead back to the green, silver, and gold background again. Then, the Cat waved his tail, and a white opening appeared in front of them.

"There you go. You'll return to your world. Careful though, it's pretty bright." The Cat smiled. Mordecai nodded, and with a wave of goodbye, he walked into the opening...

* * *

Mordecai opened his eyes to find himself back where he was. Back in the living room, with Rigby, who was still watching the movie. The bluejay yawned, rubbing his eyes slightly. "Are you up?" Rigby asked, noticing Mordecai. "You slept through half of the movie!"

"I did?" Mordecai replied. "Yeah, but this is where the best part happens!" Rigby said, smiling. Mordecai rolled his eyes, knowing what would happen in the movie.

Suddenly, the sound of a door being slammed echoed through the air. Mordecai and Rigby jumped and saw Benson, who looked pretty pissed off, was coming in.

"Uh... Hey Benson..." Rigby said, awkwardly. "Don't you two realize that there's a bunch of leaves on the ground? Get moving or YOU'RE FIRED!" Benson yelled. "But Benson, it's pretty bad out there, and there's not even any-" Rigby turned to the window, and finished his sentence with "Leaves on the ground..."

Outside, it was sunny and a slight breeze was blowing. And there were _many_ leaves on the ground.

Without even replying, Mordecai and Rigby got up, and raced outside. Out there, the two raked the leaves, despite Rigby's whining and groans.

In Mordecai's mind, he was going over his decisions about the Crene and out here. _What am I gonna do?_ He thought to himself...

* * *

Cole Curtis is my new OC, so he's mine, I guess... As well as the 'Head man'. If you want to know what he looks like, than look up Percy Jackson And the Olympians: The Lightning Theif Movie on Google, and look at the character Hades. That's the guy that Head Man resembles, but of course, RS verision XD

R&R, and in a week, I'll be back from vacation!

~Arristo~


	11. Thinking

Hi there! I'm back! Haha! Vacation was fun, but it was so terrible for having NO computer! But I'm back!

Anyway, I wanna give thanks to bg52598 for helping me with this idea! Really appreciate it dude :)

* * *

A few hours later, the job was done, _again. _Mordecai and Rigby just sat outside, relaxing and staring out into the sky, watching the gray clouds roll by. "Dude, do you think it's gonna rain?" Rigby asked.

Mordecai simply shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe."

The wind picked up, making it cold. Rigby shivered. "Dude, it's freezing. Let's go inside." Rubbing his wings, Mordecai agreed and the two went inside, sitting on the couch. Rigby went upstairs and came back with the Strong Johns game. "You wanna play?" he asked.

Mordecai shook his head. "Nah, I'm good."

Rigby shrugged, and the sounds of beeps echoed through the room. Mordecai merely looked out the window again, staring at the sun, fighting through the clouds. _What am I gonna do? _He thought, thinking about the offer from the Head Man.

If he went, then he wouldn't have to worry about anything. But then he would leave everything behind, friends, everything he cared about. Yet if he stayed, he would have to keep battling the Depression and by the looks of what happened during the past days, it's not pleasent.

His mind kept going back and forth, thinking about the positives and negatives about either choice. And after a while, his head started to hurt. "God, what the heck am I gonna do?" He muttered to himself, rubbing his forehead in pain.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "Maybe..."

Mordecai got up. "Hey, I'll be back in a few minutes." "What? Where are you going?" Rigby asked, pausing the game. "I forgot, I have to ask Skips something." Mordecai half-lied.

And just as Rigby asked, "What do you have to ask him?" Mordecai walked out and shut the door, and raced to Skips's house.

* * *

The bluejay knocked on Skips's door, before he could hear the sounds of footsteps. The door opened, in where Skips stood, his handle still on the door.

"What is it?" the yeti asked. "Skips, I gotta ask you something," Mordecai answered.

"Did Rigby clog the hose again? You have to-"

"It's not that."

"Then what? I'm pretty busy."

"Have you heard about... The Crene?"

Skips didn't reply, but his eyes were wide. "Come inside." he said. Mordecai scooted past the yeti and Skips shut the door. Mordecai looked around room, which occupied a bed, a wooden desk, and a weight lifting set.

"Listen," Skips said. "You've been there?"

"Yeah, just about a few hours ago..."

"Did they ask you about staying there?"

"You know them?"

"Mordecai."

"Sorry. Yeah, they did. But that's why I came here. I wanna ask if you know which is the best answer..."

"Say no."

"...Okay, but why-"

"Just say no."

"Skips-"

The yeti sighed. "Mordecai, there are things about that place that you don't know. But whatever they tell you, it's a lie. People are pulled into that world and never come out. It's all some kind of trap. Just, say you don't want to. It's a lot better that way."

Mordecai was loss for words. How does Skips say this kind of stuff?

He replied, "But, Skips, I've been there. I've been through every part of that place. How I saw it, it sounds really cool. Besides, you seen me when I was sick and everything! I just can't go through that crap again..."

Skips started, "Mordecai, it's not like it seems-"

But the bluejay was already leaving. "Listen, whatever you think it is, I think different. But I just need to think this through. I'll tell them whatever I want to tell them."

The door shut and Mordecai rubbed his head with a loud sigh. He then walked back to the house. He entered and shut the door behind him, going up the stairs and into his room, not even noticing that Rigby was still in the living room playing Strong Johns.

With a sigh, he flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He thought about what Skips had told him. Could it be true? Was it all just a trap, or wicked trickery?

But it couldn't be. He had been there himself, seeing everywhere that there was over there. There wasn't anything like a secret room, or restricted area or anything 'suspicious'.

He groaned, rubbing his head in both pain and confusion. "What the 'H' am I supposed to choose?" he groaned quietly. "What if Skips keeps an eye on me? What do I do then?"

Then, something came to his mind and an idea popped into his head. Maybe...

Mordecai opened his beak to say something, when...

A small puff of smoke appeared and the Cat came in front of him. "Hello. Did you happen to call?"

Mordecai, who's beak was still open from about to call the Cat, said, "Uh... Yeah I did... _How_ did you get here that fast?"

The Cat chuckled quietly. "There are things that we can do, Mordecai." he simply said. Mordecai just sat there, confused. He shook his head, snapping him out of it. "Yeah, anyway, do you think I can go back to the Crene and stay in that, um, Silent Room? I need to be somewhere not here and think."

The Cat nodded and flicked his tail thrice. With a flash, both of them disappeared.

* * *

Mordecai blinked to find himself back in the main, grand room. "Over here, Mordecai." the Cat's voice called out, and Mordecai turned to see the Cat floating in front of one of the identical doors. He walked up to it and the door opened by itself slowly.

He entered the pure white room once again, and the door closed behind him. "Now, how long will this thinking of yours take?" He could hear the Cat's voice speak through the door.

"Uh... Probably an hour. Two hours tops. Why?"

"There are others who need this room too."

"Oh, Right."

Mordecai turned away from the door and walked a little into the never ending white scene. He sat down, before realizing there was no chair or anything. However, before bracing himself for the impact, he felt something underneath, and looking down, he was on a chair. "Hmph, convenient." he mumbled.

So he sat there, his wings resting on his knees, looking down at his feet. His mind set to work as he once again went over his choices, thinking positive and negative on both choices.

And somehow, it became easier...

* * *

What do you think?

R&R! See ya in the next chapter!

~Arristo~


	12. Answer

Hello! Okay, this might be a short and a tiny bit crappy chapter, but, one, I had to post this up, and two, you're in for a shocker, I promise you that.

* * *

Rigby pressed the power button on the Strong Johns game and it shut down. He placed it on the coffee table and walked around and out of the living room. "Hey, Mordecai!" he called out. Rigby looked in the kitchen, but no one was there.

He went outside, but he didn't see him either. "Mordecai!"

The raccoon went upstairs and checked in the bathroom, but not there either. He groaned. Where the heck was he?

Rigby continued down the hall and went into their room, checking in there. That's where he found him.

Mordecai was asleep on his bed, breathing slowly, and silently. He was laying on his left side, facing the far wall. Though he was sound asleep, you could tell that he was kind of pale and sick looking, knowing that he wasn't fully better.

Not wanting to wake up his best friend, Rigby, trying to be as quiet as possible, snuck out the door and went back downstairs. Flopping back down onto the couch with a sigh, he flicked the tv using the remote.

"…_with a massive war on the horizon…"_

Click.

"…_our situation is putting our freaking lives at stake you nitwit!"_

Click.

"…_oh my god, _look _at this damage!"_

Click.

"…_and now, it's time, for the rap hour."_

"Grr... There's nothing on!" Rigby said, flicking through the channels. He went so fast, that his fingers were becoming a blur, and you couldn't even tell what was on the tv.

Finally he gave up and with a yell, he threw the remote across the room. It bonked against the nearby wall, and it zigzagged around the room, literally bouncing on and off the walls. Rigby's eyes followed the remote, zigzagging everywhere the remote went, until...

_Twack!_

Rigby was suddenly sent backwards and he skidded across the floor.

Groaning, Rigby sat up from the floor, the remote squished inbetween his eyes and nose. Crossing his eyes, he yanked the remote off, and rubbed his face, moaning in pain. He gave the remote, who hadn't been one bit damaged, a mean look. "Stupid remote..." he muttered angrily.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the Silent Room, Mordecai was still sitting in the exact spot, looking down at the ground, listening to the silence of the room.

Then, a few minutes later, with a sigh, he got up. After a long time, he was ready.

So he walked forward into the never ending scene, and came to the wooden door. "You there?" he said, knocking on the door. "Yes?" the Cat's voice spoke. "I'm ready to-"

"See the Head Man?"

The bluejay stood there, beak agape. "How...?"

He could hear the Cat chuckling, and the door opened. Mordecai simply stepped out, and the Cat appeared, holding the same, stone key in his tail. "Follow me." he said. The two went towards the same door from before, and with a click, the key turned in the lock and the doors swung open.

Like before, the room was dark, and when the door closed, it became even darker. But he knew what to do. Mordecai walked forward, and a bright ball of light appeared, illuminating the bare room. Mordecai looked around. He calle out, "Um...Hello?"

"Ah, Mordecai, you've returned. And so quickly,"

The Head Man suddenly appeared in front of him as if he just came out of nowhere, nodding. "Very good. And, what can I help you with, Mordecai? Hm?"

Trying not to sound stupid, or awkward, Mordecai answered. "I-I'm ready for my decision..."

The Head Man smiled as if he was in pure delight. "Are you? Well, then, what is your choice? Will you stay?"

Mordecai thought for a minute, reconsidering his decision. Was he really sure about it?

He closed his eyes for a moment. Yes, he was absolutely sure.

And so, with a deep breath, and without the slightest bit of guilt, or regret, nor hesitation, he spoke...

"...Yes."

* * *

Dun dun dun dun! Cliffhanger!

R&R! See ya in the next chapter!

~Arristo~


	13. For the Best

Hello to all. Do you remember me? I know you do...

Sirra's here! Told ya I be back. You expected Arristo, no? Well, she's been very, very busy lately, which gives you why she hasn't updated this, and I've wanted to do a chapter for once, since I'm BORED out of my freakin' mind, so, here you go.

And _don't_, and I MEAN_ don't _accuse me of helping her out! I'm evil, and we evil twins_ don't _help our good selves out!

* * *

"Excellent," he smiled. "You've ade a good choice, Mordecai. Staying here, it's the best thing you could possibly do-"

"Wait," Mordecai interuppted. "Can, can I at least go back? Just to, say, goodbye?"

There was a sudden moment where Mordecai saw a sudden combination in the Man's eyes. They filled with shock, disappointment, distrust, and worst of all, anger. But Mordecai didn't bother pointing it out.

"...Very well then, but not for too long..." the Man broke through the silence. He smiled, but his voice and eyes were just as cold as a cold-blooded snake. This made Mordecai shiver internally, but it also made him suspicious. What was he hiding?

There was suddenly a flash, and Mordecai saw one last glimpse of the dark, cold eyes that sent shivers indise his body, and there was nothing.

* * *

The purple coin was in his hand as he opened his eyes to see him back in his bedroom in sight. Slowly, he sat up, looking at the purple object in his hand, wondering what it was, but he would think about it later.

Wondering where Rigby was, he went downstairs, but the raccoon was nowhere in sight. "Rigby?" he called, but no answer. With a small sigh, he sat on the couch, and flicked the tv on. The tv glitched before turning to the Weather news. "...Prepare yourselves, as of now, in exactly thirty seconds, the Autumn Equinox will officially start the new Autumn season..." the news man's voice almost blared from the screen.

The bluejay turned towards the window, where the dark cloud blanket still overtook the sky, but rays of sunlight were still opening through the layer.

Mordecai looked at the clock, counting mentally. _5...4...3...2...1..._

Done.

September 22nd, 2012, at exactly 2:49 PM.

The official start of Autumn.

Just a few seconds after, Mordecai got up.

It was time.

_Summer has come and passed_  
_The innocent can never last_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

_Like my father's come to pass_  
_Seven years has gone so fast_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

Mordecai shut the tv off and walked over to the hallway. He prepared to go upstairs to his room, but he heard a shout, turned around, and walked over to the window. Peering out, he saw Rigby, who was getting yelled at by a furious and scarlet red Benson. The gumball machine shouted a sentence, even if he couldn't hear Benson's voice, he knew what he had shouted. It was so easy to read his lips.

"If you don't get to work right now, you're fired!" Mordecai whispered.

_Here comes the rain again_  
_Falling from the stars_  
_Drenched in my pain again_  
_Becoming who we are_

The blue jay gave a small smile that disappeared as soon as it had come. To see his best friend, for the last time, was hard. If he wasn't brave and strong enough, he would be crying on the couch, but he held it back.

He saw Benson walk away, and saw Rigby groan, a scowl on his face.

All the memories flashed before his mind. All the good times they had together. All those times where they had been together, laughing, goofing off.

But all was now fading away.

_As my memory rests_  
_But never forgets what I lost_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

_Summer has come and passed_  
_The innocent can never last_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

"See ya, Rigby..." Mordecai mumbled. Giving one last look at the window, Mordecai walked away. He held onto the wooden railing as he walked upstairs, step by step. He opened the door and closed it behind, locking it for good measure. He collapsed onto his bed, face up, and stared at the ceiling.

_Ring out the bells again_  
_Like we did when spring began_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

Mordecai pulled out the purple coin and without knowing, he flipped it. The side landed on heads, and it started to glow...

* * *

"Yo Mordecai!" Rigby called. "Benson told us that we're not done, so we gotta go!"

But no one answered.

"Dude! You're still asleep?"

Nothing.

_Here comes the rain again_  
_Falling from the stars_  
_Drenched in my pain again_  
_Becoming who we are_

"Mordecai?" Rigby shouted, but no answer. He ran upstairs to the room and tried to open the door. However, it was locked. "Dude! Unlock the door- huh?" Rigby looked down and saw the immense glowing. "Mordecai! Mordecai!" Rigby called, banging on the door, but the door wouldn't budge. Despite his desperate shouts, nothing would happen, nothing changed on what was happening behind that door.

_As my memory rests_  
_But never forgets what I lost_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

* * *

Mordecai felt himself land on his feet. He saw the surroundings of the room he was in not too long ago. He sighed sadly, his head hung low, wondering if he regretted this decision.

But, it was for the best...

_Summer has come and passed_  
_The innocent can never last_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_

"Everything went well?" the Man's voice boomed, even if he was standing right in front of him. "Are you now ready?"

_Like my father's come to pass_  
_Twenty years have gone so fast_  
_Wake me up, when September ends_  
_Wake me up, when September ends  
__  
_"...Yes, I'm ready."

_Wake me up, when September ends..._

"NO! STOP!"

* * *

Now, even if I am evil, I don't own Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day, which I wish I did because of it's awesomeness :( .

R&R please. Thank you, and Arristo shall be back soon.


	14. The Battle

Hi there everybody!

I'm _so, so SOOOO_ sorry for not updating for a long time! Apparently, school just started a few weeks ago, and I've hadn't had a lot of time to update. So much going on, and so little time for here :(

But, I've managed time and created this chapter for you. And brace yourselves too, because you're about to enter some action! Hahaha! Here we go!

* * *

Everyone turned to see Rigby, Skips, Benson, Muscleman and High-Five Ghost sprinting into the room. (Pops had stayed behind to look after the park while everyone else was gone.)

"What-?"

"Mordecai, are you nuts? What are you doing?" Rigby cried.

"Ah, your friends are here. Saying your goodbyes, perhaps? I thought you had already done that."

"Uh-" Mordecai started.

"Mordecai, don't listen to him," Skips said. "He's trying to trick you."

Mordecai's thoughts were rushing in his head, not sure what to choose. However, deep inside, he knew his _real_ choice. The choice _he_ wanted to make.

"Come now, are you really going to listen to those silly friends of yours? They don't even know what this place is! Just ignore them. You are going to stay anyways. You already made your commitment."

Mordecai didn't respond that time. Nobody spoke a word.

It was a little while before Mordecai turned from his friends, and said in a firm voice,

"No."

"E-Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I said, _no_."

There was deafening silence. Nothing, absolutely nothing, made a sound.

"Well then," he said quietly. "I have no choice but to do this..."

With that, he laughed maniacally, and as he did, his eyes started to glow brightly. His voice became deeper and deeper as he kept laughing, and suddenly with a flash, his whole entire body disappeared. Everyone shielded their eyes against the immense glow. It was then when the light died down, that they looked up to see a horrific sight.

Standing tall in front of them, vibrant, orange flames dancing around him, a monstrous, gigantic, two-legged creäture stood, his body gray and wrinkly, his arms long, and scaly, with razor-sharp claws at the fingertips. A pair of terrifying, yet useless pair of stone dragon wings were spread out on his back. There was a long and spiky tail sticking out from behind, and up on its head, were two, short horns, a nasty, sharp, toothy grin, and worse of all, blood-red eyes that meant one thing.

Kill.

"I've warned you!" the beast roared. "Now, you shall all pay the consequences!" And with one flourish wave of his hand, a huge ball of fire appeared, and it shot right to them all. If they hadn't jumped out of the way at the last second, they all would've been burned right there.

The blue jay shook himself as he stumbled up. Rigby got up right next to him. "We gotta find that door!" Mordecai shouted as they dodged another ball of flames. The two ran over to the where the door was, but nothing was there. They felt around for anything, but there was no way out.

"Dude! How the 'H' are we gonna get out of here?!" Rigby yelled, panicking. "I don't know!" Mordecai replied, who was equally frightened.

"We have to fight him," Skips suddenly said, skipping up to them. "If we beat him, the portal should open and it'll be our way out!"

"Skips, are you sure?" Rigby asked.

"It's probably the only way!"

"But how are we gonna do that? We don't have any weapons or anything! And he has fire!"

However, there wasn't much time to think about that. The fire roared as it grew bigger and bigger. Everyone could feel the intense heat of the flames, even from a short distance. Then, there was a blast, and several warriors, who had skeleton bodies, but fierce, metal weapons in hand, appeared.

"See if you can beat these, you fools." laughed in the monstrous beast. The warriors charged, waving swords and other various weapons. Benson, Skips, Muscleman and High-Five Ghost ran towards them, and they clashed. They dodged attacks, braced themselves as some attacks got the best of them. Bones flew around as the skeletons began to fall. The four retrieved their temporary weapons and as Skips yelled at everyone what to do, they attacked the beast, fire burning in his hands.

Meanwhile, Mordecai and Rigby wre still trying to find a way out, but there was nothing that would get them out. "How the 'H' are we supposed to get out?" Rigby yelled, clawing at the air, seeing if there was asecret door or whatever would help them. "I don't know! I swear there's a door, but I don't see anything!" Mordecai replied back loudly over the deafening roar of the flames behind them.

Suddenly, with a loud thud, Rigby's face hit something solid, but invisible. He tapped his paw on it and grinned. "Dude, I found it!" he called. Mordecai ran to him and also felt the solid surface. "Where's the opening?" he asked. The two felt around the surface for anything, but nothing.

But then, Mordecai felt something else along the invisible source. Something smooth and metal like. "Hey Rigby, I think I got it!"

He turned it, expecting it to open, but it didn't. Mordecai jiggled the knob, but it remained sealed. "Come on!" he cried angrily.

It wasn't long before Mordecai realized Rigby wasn't helping him. "Rigby! I _could_ use a little help-" he stopped.

Rigby was at a distance from the bluejay, his back against the wall, trembling like mad, eyes wide, paralyzed with fear. In front of him was a short wall of flames, but they were about to surround the raccoon. But the part that really made Rigby freeze in place was what was _in_ the fire. A pair of demon eyes, blood-red, and had no pupils whatsoever, were staring right at him, face to face. This sent fear right into Rigby, making him stay absolutely still where he was.

"What's wrong, Rig-BEE?" the flames laughed in a evil, dark voice. "Afraid of a little fire?" Rigby whimpered, not moving at all. The fire flickered and moved closer to the raccoon, inch by inch. Rigby couldn't go any farther into the wall, so he had no choice but to stand still.

"There's no need to be a little burned, you know..." it cackled. A spark, small as a grain of sand, bounced off and struck Rigby onto his left arm. It didn't seem like anything, but just a split second later, Rigby screamed in pain, a small part of his fur caught on fire, and burned him, leaving a spot of red, blistering skin on his arm.

"RIGBY!" Mordecai yelled, running towards his best friend.

Rigby, holding his arm in pain, felt as if the fire was only inches from his body as he came literally face to face with the demon eyes. "I will make sure you will die in darkness Rigby, but that doesn't mean you will die painlessly." said the flames. "No, _you will die in torture of burns you have never felt in your life!_"

The raccoon screamed as the fire came towards him. He closed his eyes, bracing for the impact...

...Only to find himself being shoved by someone and hitting the ground.

He opened his eyes to find Mordecai next to him, breathing heavily as the flames in front of them struck the wall. Adrenaline filled Rigby's veins and scrambled away, hiding behind his best friend.

The flames gathered into a small ball and it's eyes turned to them and less than a second later, it rushed to them again. "Run!" screamed Mordecai. Both got up and jumped out of the way. Rigby landed on the ground again, feeling like his lungs were going to collaspe as he gasped for air.

He heard a shout, and turned to see Mordecai against the wall, the flames completely surrounding him, blocking out every way that was possible for him to get out. Rigby tried to get up, but he couldn't due to his burn, which made his whole arm throb, and the rest of his body was too tired and weak to get up. "Mordecai," he yelled, trying to get up.

Mordecai stared at the flames as he felt the heat increasing. Suddenly, the flames turned deep purple, and it's eyes glowed bright white. "Forget your friend. _You_ will be the target I will conquer!" it screamed. Then it rushed to the bluejay, and there was no way out this time.

Mordecai braced himself for the impact, closing his eyes.

Only, he didn't feel anything...

* * *

Mordecai opened his eyes just a few seconds later to suddenly find himself in a pure white, misty world. No one was there. A small wind blew carefully, creating an eerie sound. "Hey! What's going on? Where the heck am I?" he called. But only the soft breeze gave any sound.

Suddenly, a voice, sharp as a snake's, whispered, "You, shall pay the consequences, Mordecai... And by that, you will be tortured, and perhaps... possessed..."

An ear-splitting pain shot through his head, and Mordecai screamed, sinking to the ground. The pain went on, not stopping, not even from Mordecai's desperate cries. He grabbed his head, letting out yells of pain.

Soon the pain became white-hot, and his head felt numb, as if it was ready to burst anytime, if it could. _This is it,_ he thought. _I can't take it. I'm gonna die..._

And suddenly, it became still. The pain disappeared as if it had simply faded away into oblivion. "Huh?" he gasped for air as his head throbbed. Why did it stop?

No. The real question was,

"Why me?"

He laid down onto the cold, white floor, holding his head from the pain. "I should've said no," he breathed. "I should've just listened to Skips..."

And he laid there, with his eyes tightly shut, holding his head, regretting everything he had done, blaming himself for everything that happened.

"Mordecai." A familiar, calm voice called within a certain distance. But he shook his head, eyes still squeezed shut. "No, its just another trick..." he mumbled, tears flowing from his eyes.

Again, the voice rang out, "Mordecai..." but it was closer. And it kept calling his name, coming closer every time it did.

Mordecai ignored the voice and continued crying, lying on the cold, hard ground, clutching his ears in agony and pain. It was then he heard some soft footsteps, and they seemed to stop right in front of him, yet he continued on, not moving. He felt something touch his cheek. It felt like a soft, wispy hand, it's thumb wiping away his tears from face. A warm sensation filled his body, the sadness leaving him. He tried to grasp it, whatever it was, but his hand couldn't find it.

Nevertheless, he didn't want it to let go.

Slowly, it helped him up to his feet, and the hand left his face. Mordecai tried to grasp it back, but he couldn't. Wiping another tear that escaped from his eyes, he opened his eyes to find out what he had tried to grab.

Standing in front of him, at a somewhat nearby distance, was someone familiar. Someone who was dressed in a beautiful, pure white tank top and a jean skirt. Someone who had a small, sad smile on their face, their eyes staring right at him.

Someone who he hadn't seen for a long time.

"M-Margaret...?"

* * *

There you go! Was it worth it? One of my little cliffhangers, hahaha :D

R&R please! I'll do my best to update ASAP!

~Arristo~


	15. Some Unsaid Goodbyes

Ignore what I'm saying right now and get to the chapter. I know your anxious to read. No denial!

* * *

Margaret's smile grew only a little bit wider. She extended out her wing, reaching out to him. Mordecai immediately shook him out of his shock and ran to her, holding out his own. However, when he reached her, his wing went right through hers, as if he was touching nothing but air.

His slight streak of happiness lingered away, filling with pain. Margaret placed her wing down and sighed, her eyes brimming with tears. "Hey..." she said quietly. Mordecai smiled slightly as he replied, "Hey... am I dreaming?" Margaret smiled. "I don't know, are you?"

"You tell me." said Mordecai. _What does it matter? _he thought._ Dream or not, I get to see her again._

Margaret giggled quietly and sighed. Mordecai sighed as well, a feeling in his chest rising. It made him long to feel Margaret's cheek, to hug her close, to feel her love once more. But instead an awkward silence came between them, and he decided to break it.

"So, how've you been since we last met? How long has it been, like maybe two months?" he asked.

Big mistake.

Margaret frowned and turned away from him. She closed her eyes and sighed, trembling. Mordecai mentally punched himself to ask such an idiotic question.

"Uh, sorry. I shouldn't have asked that..." Mordecai began.

"Mordecai, can I ask you something?" asked Margaret.

"Oh! Y-Yeah sure, what?"

Margaret turned to him, tears making her eyes sparkle sadly.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"W-why did y-you l-leave me?" Margaret started to cry. "Margaret, I-I never left you!" Mordecai said, surprised that Margaret could say such a thing. "W-Why did you do it?" she said.

"Margaret, I-I was an idiot."

"W-Was it b-because o-of me? Am I not good enough...?"

"Don't say that!"

"Am I better off leaving you alone? Letting you find someone else to love?!"

"Margaret-"

"Maybe I'm not good enough for you! I'll change, Mordecai, I can! Whatever you want, I'll do it! Just p-please..."

Margaret collapsed onto her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. She let out big sobs, her head hung low. Mordecai came down to her side and gingerly wiped her most of her tears away. Mordecai then reeled back and realizing he could touch her now, pulled her into an embrace. She cried and cried, burying her head into his chest. "D-Don't ever d-d-o that t-to me a-again, please..." she whispered.

"I won't," Mordecai whispered back. "I promise I won't."

He didn't let go of her as she began to become strangely calm. Her grip around his body became slightly tighter, but Mordecai ignored it.

There was something odd however...

"Hey, how'd you get here? Or am I seriously just dreaming?" he asked.

She didn't answer.

"Margaret?"

"Yes, Mordecai?"

Her voice was suddenly scratchy and mixed. Confused, Mordecai looked down at Margaret...

...Only to see one of the most hideous monster faces by far.

"Aaaahhh!" he screamed, pushing the weird spirit away from him. It tumbled back, it's body ripping holes into the fabric of the clothing. It's eyes were glowing purple, and it's body looked as if had just went through a zombie apocalypse, though it was still in the shape and color (but somewhat darker) of Margaret's body. "W-what the hell are you?!" Mordecai yelled, stumbling back. "What does it matter, huh?" the spirit said. Mordecai turned and ran.

"You can't hide from me boy! This place goes on and on forever no matter how far you run!" the spirit screamed from behind him. Mordecai didn't listen and kept running. He looked behind him to see it coming towards him. He ran faster. Unfortunately, he suddenly tripped and fell to the ground with a thud. Groaning, he turned face-up and saw the thing coming closer. He crawled backwards, trying to get away, but fear paralyzed him in place just then.

Laughing, the spirit came close, purple and black smoke surrounding it. It came closer to him and Mordecai struggled his body to get up and run, but it seemed as if the smoke coming from the spirit was acting as chains, for the smoke was pinning him to the ground by wrapping around his wrists and legs. He tried his best but couldn't break loose.

His breathing became rapid as a chilling sensation filled him inside. He looked at the spirit, who was literally now face to face with him. It's face was bringing back Margaret's face, and it's eyes became hers once more. Even her voice came back as she said, "It won't hurt Mordecai," she came close, making Mordecai lie still with fear, and whispered in his ear, "Just as long as you co-operate with me as my... puppet..."

The spirit cackled loudly, met him face to face again and rushed towards his body, giving his chest a cold, sudden jolt before everything went black...

* * *

Rigby blinked several times and groaned softly as he struggled to get up. He had fallen unconscious just after Mordecai got surrounded by those creepy flames...

...Wait... Mordecai!

Rigby shook himself and immediately got up. He looked around and found the avian lying face-up, unconscious, though seemingly unharmed. Rigby got on all fours and raced towards him. "Mordecai!" he said. The raccoon got onto his knees, quickly dodged a flying bone and gingerly poked Mordecai in the chest. "Dude?"

Without any warning, Mordecai's eyes shot open, glowing completely white. Rigby screamed in fright and scrambled away, hyperventilating. Mordecai, or so it seemed, rose into the air, as if he was being hung by something. Wispy, purple smoke surrounded him, looking as if it was crawling all over him. "What the h-" started Rigby, when Mordecai stood up straight, and roared in a voice that was mixed between a high-pitched voice and his own. Then, he lifted his wing and created a ball from part of the smoke he had, which turned a neon green.

"LOOK OUT!" Rigby screamed to the others, realizing what was happening next.

_BOOM!_

The green ball was thrown and exploded, sending Rigby flying. As he painfully landed, he saw the others duck their heads in order to dodge the balls of exploding green smoke. Some of those hit the skeletons, making them disintegrate. "Run!" Benson yelled, grabbing Rigby by the arm and yanking him up. They ran from the explosions and towards Skips and the rest of the group. He turned and saw the great, gray beast laughing, a green light surrounding his body faintly.

"Yes! YES! Witness the power, and control it! Fight with it Mordecai, and destroy your enemies!" the huge beast cackled, pointing to the group. Obeying, Mordecai turned and held up his wing once more, but this time, several balls of smoke appeared and circled around him, and with a whoosh, they went towards them. Everyone dodged them, though Muscleman wasn't that lucky.

Fortunately, it only shocked him instead of disintegrating him, and he simply fell unconscious. High-Five Ghost caught him and repeatedly slapped him across the face until he came to. "Rigby!" Skips called the raccoon. "You gotta stop Mordecai. He's possessed. You gotta bring him back!"

"But how? I can't just use magic to bring him back!" argued Rigby.

But before that question could be answered, another ball came towards them "Just try! We'll try to hold him off," SKips pointed to the Beast. "Mordecai's strength is giving him power, and if he gets all the power, then there'll be no way to stop him, at all!" Skips then dodged another ball and skipped off to the others to explain the plan. Rigby ran towards Mordecai. Skips was right. Mordecai seemed to get weaker, but his smoke balls had equal power.

"Mordecai! Mordecai, listen to me! It's me Rigby!" he called. "Stop being possessed and get down here!" "Mordecai is not here, you blithering fool!" said Mordecai in the mixed voice. "He's gone, but he is now reborn as my puppet!" He threw another ball, which Rigby dodged, and floated closer. Rigby then noticed the smoke. Some of it was wrapped around Mordecai's wrists and legs, including the ankles.

"Dude! Don't listen to that thing! It's taking you over! Fight it!" he yelled. "Silence you fool!" yelled Mordecai angrily. More explosions came and Rigby dodged them once more.

"Mordecai, were bros man! Remember?"

"NO!"

This time, a bigger ball of green smoke came to him. Rigby screamed in fright and out of instinct, grabbed a huge bone out of nowhere and did his best to swing at it like a baseball. The results, well, the bone disintegrated in his paws. However, it did send the ball flying back towards Mordecai.

SMACK!

Mordecai screamed in pain and clutched his head. The smoke suddenly withered and faded, and for just a moment, Rigby saw the real Mordecai, for Mordecai's true eyes were replacing the glowing ones.

It was dead silent.

"...Rigby?" Mordecai, the real one, asked, with _his_ own voice. And just as Rigby was going to jump with joy, Mordecai screamed again and his head shook, and he became possessed again, his eyes glowing white. The smoke came back and grasped onto Mordecai's wrists, legs, and around his chest and waist. "No! Mordecai, fight it!" Rigby screamed.

"He is not here!" Mordecai screamed, about to raise his wing to conjure more balls. However, his body writhed around suddenly, and the real Mordecai screamed in his own voice once more. Rigby, knowing that Mordecai was fighting it, immediately screamed at Mordecai to keep fighting. Suddenly, Mordecai bent forward, his eyes glowing brighter and opened his beak. A big ball of sickly, green color came out and floated there. Mordecai's eyes came back to normal and he floated there in mid-air.

"NO! You are mine!" The high-pitched ball seemed to scream, and suddenly, the smoke wrapped around Mordecai's neck, pulling tight. Mordecai choked, grasping on to it, trying to break free. "Mordecai!" Rigby grabbed a couple of bones and threw it at the ball of light. It had no effect as they all just went through it. Rigby turned and saw Mordecai growing weaker. His eyes were starting to roll a little as he was running out of air. "Mordecai!" Rigby screamed in fright, afraid he was going to die.

Mordecai, however, wasn't going to give up. Even though he was running out of air, and had no idea what happened for the moment, he struggled and actually kicked the ball of light, hoping to have some effect.

Rigby saw it scream and the light split in two, suddenly rising into the air and fading away for good. "Yes!" he fist pumped. The smoke also faded away, just as Mordecai's eyes slid shut and fell limp. Rigby's happiness turned to terror as Mordecai fell from the air, heading to the ground. Rigby got on fours and ran over to him. Just as he got there, Mordecai's fall ceased for a moment just a foot above ground, and he dropped to the ground, but more gently this time.

"Mordecai?" Rigby asked, worried. Mordecai lied still for a moment before he coughed and gasped for air. His eyes opened and he sat up. "Wha-?" he said. He turned and saw Rigby. "Dude, it was so creepy! I was seeing her and then nothing! Then I saw you and that weird glowing thing. You saw that thing too, right? Holy crap, it was controlling me!"

"Dude! Chill man, it's gone!" Rigby assured him. Mordecai relaxed and smiled. "Yeah-yuh!" they both said together, high-fiving each other. But it didn't last.

"Grrrrghhh!"

The duo turned and saw the giant beast growing very furious. "Oh crap." Mordecai breathed as the beast screamed, "No! I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE POWER!" It gathered all the fire in his hands and pointed towards them. "I'll just have to take care of you myself!" And the fire shot out into a huge line. Mordecai and Rigby screamed in fright, running away as they dodged the fire.

Just in time, Skips and the group ran towards the beast, holding many weapons in their hands. They attacked the beast, slashing through the beast's skin with their swords. Skips and High-Five Ghost went up to its head and clashed into one of its eyes. He yelled in pain and shot a fireball at them, which they dodged. The beast almost crushed Skips if High-Five Ghost hadn't grabbed him out of the way. The beast clutched his eye in pain, and let go. Immediately, it healed by itself. "Enough! I don't need to deal with you!"

More skeleton warriors appeared from the ground, giving the group another obstacle. Mordecai and Rigby saw the beast turn back to them and they quickly started running. However, Rigby tripped and fell forward. He groaned and sat up, propping himself up by his arms. He yelled as he saw the beast focusing on him. "Hmm, isn't this exciting?" he cackled. "Maybe I won't kill you," the beast pointed to Mordecai. "But I shall kill your friend!"

The beast made a few swords in his hand and shot them towards Rigby, who screamed and quickly crawled backwards, away from them as they barely missed him, piercing the ground. His back reached the invisible wall, and he couldn't crawl any further back. "Rigby!" Mordecai screamed, running towards the raccoon. "NO!"

And at that moment, the beast threw the final sword, it's target completely focused onto the raccoon.

Rigby squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain to come...

But nothing came. He only heard a slight, strained gasp, but that was all.

The raccoon opened his eyes to see Mordecai standing in front of him, but the blue jay was facing Rigby. His face was losing its color, and his eyes squeezed shut, trembling, as if he was trying his very hardest to not cry out. "Mordecai?" Rigby asked, getting a little creeped out. He didn't answer, but he opened his eyes, and slowly looked down at his chest, Rigby following his gaze. He gasped to see what he found.

The sword that had been thrown, that was originally going to hit Rigby, was now sticking out of Mordecai's torso from his back, stained with blood.

Mordecai looked up again and opened his beak slightly before he swayed and collapsed onto the ground. "No!" screamed the raccoon. He crawled to his best friend's side, where Mordecai laid there moaning in pain, bending over so the sword was curving along with his body, a trail of blood seeping out of the wound. "Oh crap... H-Hang on Mordecai. I-I can fix t-this..." Rigby's voice shook.

But in truth, he couldn't.

He tried grabbing the sword out of Mordecai, but the avian yelled in pain. Rigby stopped and his paws slid off the handle, covered in Mordecai's blood. In fact, a tiny pool of the blood surrounded the blue jay. Rigby grew completely horrified, trembling as he watched his best friend suffer. "Whoa dude," Muscleman suddenly came up behind him, his shirt torn up at the bottom, with High Five Ghost floating by his side. Both were beaten up and dirty, and slightly burned. Benson came up as well, speechless at what he saw. He too was a little burned and beaten up, but he wasn't as bad as Muscleman and Fives. Skips appeared, tossing a piece of a skeleton bone behind him. His eyes widened too, but his expression remained the same. He got to his knees behind Mordecai's back.

"What are you..." Rigby started. "Taking it out," Skips replied simply. "Alright Mordecai, this is gonna hurt a lot, so you gotta pull through, 'kay?" His reply was a loud moan and a few sick coughs. Rigby held back tears and gently grasped Mordecai's hand into his. "Just squeeze when it hurts dude, he mumbled. "...I-I'm probably...gonna break it though..." the blue jay mustered up all his strength to say his sentence that was no louder than a whisper. "I-I don't care m-man. My arm's already burned, so might as well make both of them even." Rigby smirked slightly.

At that time Skips grasped the blade's handle. A sickening crack then echoed through the air and Mordecai yelled in pain. This continued for a few seconds before it turned into another coughing fit. Rigby bit his lip hard, holding back the pain Mordecai crushed through his paw, but it didn't matter to him. At least it wasn't broken. Skips held the sword with both hands and threw it aside, landing with a small clang.

Skips looked back at Mordecai, now lying on his back, coughed and turned even more pale.

"Oh, how touching. But I'm afraid this mourning will have to cease! Because that was only the beginning!" the beast laughed. Several more skeletons appeared and the beast held more fire into its hands. "God, will he give us a damn break?!" Rigby yelled angrily.

"We got this ladies!" Muscleman pointed to himself and ran off, High Five Ghost following him. Only Skips, Benson and Rigby were left with Mordecai. But they didn't stay long because they had to help, so Skips left, Benson patting Rigby on the back silently before going after him. Rigby was then alone with Mordecai. As Rigby turned from the sight of the group fighting off the beast, he focused on Mordecai.

Mordecai coughed violently and moaned, his face pale as white. He closed his eyes for a moment, scaring Rigby before opening them again. "I-I'm sorry dude..." his voice barely above whisper. "You did nothing wrong." said Rigby. "Y-Yeah... If I-I just said n-no..." Mordecai coughed again. "All of y-you guys w-wouldn't be here... We could be p-playing video g-games r-right now..."

Rigby sighed, shaking his head a little. "No man, you couldn't help it. They made you. These idiots controlled you without any of your real thoughts. It wasn't your fault..."

"But I-I had a c-choice, d-didn't I?" Mordecai's voice grew upset. "I-I could've said no, b-but I d-didn't. No, I c-chose this stupid p-place over home."

"C'mon dude, don't." Rigby said. "It's not your fault. They controlled you. And even if we are here, look at what happened. We fought off a demon flame, nearly got smacked by skeleton dudes, and got another thrill in our lives. That was pretty cool," he pretended to punch the air a few times, making sound effects, which made Mordecai laugh a little before coughing again. Rigby smirked before sighing, "Don't be so hard on yourself. Think about it. You just saved my life, and if you didn't, I would be you instead. So... thanks..."

Mordecai smiled and squeezed Rigby's paw, but more gently this time, and a single tear fell from his eye. His smile faded away and tried to breathe.

Mordecai's coughs were now light and raspy, indicating that his time was almost at its mark. His wound was surrounded by blood soaked feathers all over Mordecai's torso and chest, yet it wasn't bleeding no longer, despite the fact that it was still freshly open. Rigby shuddered internally at it and looked at Mordecai's face, then at his slightly moving chest that indicated his breathing.

Through Mordecai's vision, everything was starting to turn white. But it was going back and forth, from white to clear. He could barely make out anything in front of him, even if he could still hear Rigby's voice. "Hey, Mordecai, don't l-leave yet... I just wanna say, that, I-I..." Then suddenly, it was cut off. He no longer heard anything. It was silent. His vision was turning white again, but it wasn't turning back to clear. A wave of comfort rushed over his body. Using the last of his strength he had the rest of the tears he had slide down his face, before the comfort made him relax without any choice and everything went completely white...

Rigby watched silently as a tear fell from his eye. He saw Mordecai take his last breath, along with the tears sliding down his cheeks before suddenly growing very still. His wings fell limp, including the one in Rigby's paw, and his head turned to the side a little, his mouth hanging open slightly, eyes wide, but not longer seeing. Rigby sighed, and he leaned over and closed the bluejay's eyelids, to make him look as if he was simply asleep. Gently he wiped the tears from Mordecai's face as well.

Several more tears swelled up into his own eyes and slid down his cheeks as he mustered up the feeling to whisper, "Mordecai..."

* * *

Yes, I am alive you guys. I AM ALIVE!

*repeatedly bangs head against desk* I am so sorry for making you guys wait this long, only to give you a chapter that probably killed you with tears, sadness and complete shock... But I swear, NO MORE OVER-MONTH LONG WAITS! (Well, possibly Two-Month long waits, oh I don't know.) I'll do my best on everything to get this story done, because, we've got only about 2-4 chapters left!

Well, I tried. And now I might just cry now like the rest of you probably are. *holds back a single tear*

R&R please.

~Arristo~


	16. Avenge

Rigby slowly picked his head up. There were tears streaming from his eyes, but his eyes were really burning with rage and hatred. He turned to see everyone clashing weapons against the enemies, but it was kind of obvious that it was starting to wear everyone out. Heck, Muscleman had already been knocked out and was lying on the floor, unconscious. High-Five Ghost was too occupied to help him out. "That's it..." Rigby hissed softly. He was done. No more fighting. It was time to end this...

And to avenge his best friend.

Reluctant to leave his best friend's body, Rigby stood up on shaky legs and walked slowly towards the battle. He unconsciously picked up a long sword nearby and kept walking. For that moment, he had no fear. Nothing scared him. He was feeling hollow, and if you saw his eyes, it almost looked as if he was, but that was just the anger and sadness. Without knowing it, he was standing right underneath the beast's thunderous body. He looked up, the last of his tears falling down his face.

The beast took no notice of the raccoon standing right in front of him and simply shot more fire out of his monstrous hands. Rigby saw this and suddenly spotted something. Squinting, Rigby saw something glitter on its forehead. Hidden underneath the gray skin was a ruby gem, shaped into a perfect diamond. It glowed every minute or so, especially when the fire rose. Rigby gasped. It was clear! He knew what he could do.

_Just like The Legend of Zelda, Spirit Tracks!_ he thought.

But how the H was he gonna get up there?

A light bulb went off over his head, but it was probably one of the most risky, dangerous ideas he had ever thought of. But, it was worth a shot. Holding the sword, Rigby raised it with all his strength, the blade gleaming in the fire's light. And with a cry, a battle cry, he jumped as high as he can, and sliced a deep and large cut in the monster's stomach. Blood seeped out of the wound and the beast cried out loudly in pain, his fire from his claws extinguishing immediately. He placed his hand over it in pain and it healed almost instantly, thought a slight scar was still visible. "You little idiot!" he screamed. With one flourish of his claw, he sent Rigby flying with a TWACK!

Rigby was knocked off the ground and slammed into the wall, slumping to the ground. Moaning in pain, Rigby did his best to shake it off and got up. He saw the beast coming towards him, seething with rage and fury. The flames grew even higher, and Rigby got up and began running away, dodging every attack made.

The rest of the group was on the other side of the flame wall, almost safe from the beast. Everyone of them was tired and worn from the battle, and they watched in shock, and horror, as Rigby fought against the monster. They couldn't get over there because of the fire, thought Fives could float through it, but he was waking up Muscleman. "What the heck does he think he's doing?" Benson yelled. "I have no idea," said Skips. He turned to High-Five Ghost, who just woke up Muscleman with a slap. "Fives, do ya think you can sneak over there and see if you can help?" High-Five Ghost nodded, a bit reluctant, and leaving a wide-eyed Muscleman behind, floated as fast as he could towards the raccoon.

Rigby delivered another blow to the leg with the sword. The beast roared and moved his leg to heal it, and when it did, his foot was coming down on top of Rigby. Before he could say even a word, High-Five Ghost pushed him out of the way and they hid behind a wall of fire, hidden from the beast's view. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" he shouted.

"Rigby!" Fives hissed just a little above a whisper. "What the heck are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" "Fives, I'm trying to get to his head! Look!" Rigby whispered back pointed to the beasts head. High-Five Ghost squinted and recognized the jewel. "Yeah, so what?" he asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well unless he's wearing that as a fashion piece for 'America's Next Top Model', I'm pretty sure it'll be just like Legend of Zelda, Spirit Tracks!" Rigby argued. "That's a video game!" High-Five Ghost said. "Fives, think about it! We've battle monsters every single day!" Rigby retorted back.

"Good point." said High-Five Ghost.

"Alright, so go tell the others about this plan," And Rigby whispered the plan to High-Five Ghost, who gasped. "Are you crazy?! You'll die!" "Well we already have someone dead!" Rigby screamed at him. "I'm gonna avenge Mordecai, and NO ONE is gonna stop me! So go tell them the damn plan and wait for the signal!" A tear slid down his face. High-Five Ghost winced at Rigby's voice, but nodded and flew off to the group, explaining everything. Rigby wiped the tear and stood up. Just then, the fire around him cleared and he stepped towards the clearing, sword in hand, his heart beating like a hammer on a nail.

"There you are you ghastly fiend," the beast shouted. "Now that I have you cornered, it's time for your death! And your friends will be next!"

The heat rose as the flames grew ever brighter, creeping slowly towards Rigby, threatening to burn him to his death. But Rigby was not intimidated, and he moved, first slowly, then breaking into a full run. The beast growled and held out his hand to fire, when...

"NOW!" screamed Rigby.

He saw Fives toss the others into the air over the flames and they landed on the ground. They raced in circles around the beast, distracting him. "This had better work Rigby, or I'm personally going to ask Death to kill you if we die!" shouted Benson. Rigby ignored the gumball machine's retort and ran to Skips who was near the beast's tail. "Skips," he said. The yeti heard him and nodded. Rigby held on to the sword tightly and Skips grabbed him, and tossed him up. The raccoon's stomach felt light as he flew up and then descended down onto the monster's back, who luckily took no notice. Rigby grabbed one of the back spikes and climbed up, heading towards his head.

When he reached it, he stood right above the jewel. He raised the sword over his head and bringing it down, he struck it. Fortunately, it was now fully revealed, but unfortunately it didn't shatter, and the beast knocked him off his head. Rigby descended down the ground, but High-Five Ghost used his arm as a slide and caught Rigby, letting him slide off. Rigby sighed in relief and gripped the sword tighter and had Fives attend to the group. He turned to the beast and shouted, "Hey!"

"You want someone!" Rigby screamed. "You GOT ONE!"

"It's your funeral boy!" the beast cried.

Everyone else gathered into a group and watched in horror as the beast made a ball of eerie gold light and caught Rigby in it. The raccoon screamed as pain seared through his body as the light caught him and made him rise into the air up to the beast's face. The group tried to run to his aid, but a wall of flames stopped them in their tracks. So all they could do was watch helplessly. "Give up?" He asked. Rigby shook head, saying "Never..." through gritted teeth. The beast shook his head, "Stubborn..." He chuckled, smacking the raccoon away.

The raccoon flew back, but landed on his feet and skidded across the floor. Sweat dropped from his forehead as he breathed heavily, his lungs feeling like they were on fire. He tried to get up and fight back, but he fell onto his knees, his body telling him to collapse, to fall to the ground and rest. _No, _He thought_. I-I can do this... But... No... I just. Can't do this..._

___He's_... he's unstoppable...

...

...

_No...!_ Rigby did his best to heave himself up. _I gotta win! For..._

"For Mordecai..."

Suddenly, out of thin air, a small spark of blue lightning appeared and it began twirling, and more importantly, began falling towards Rigby. A rain drop appeared and accompanied the spark, twirling together and soon combining into an electrical raindrop that glowed blue. It dropped onto Rigby's back and faded inside. Rigby gasped a little as he felt a cool, yet shocking feeling as he felt something touch his back, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. The raccoon's eyes then glowed brightly, a color of pale yellow, stirring a sensation inside of Rigby. He was starting to feel powerful and better than he ever felt. His body began glowing, the same color as his now non-pupils eyes.

He got up on his feet, gripping the sword tight. It too glowed, but only for a second. Rigby saw the beast yank Benson off the ground and up high. He would've crushed the gumball machine's dome, if then, without even thinking, the raccoon screamed. "YOU"RE GOING TO GET IT YOU LOUSY PIECE OF DIRT!" screamed Rigby at the top of his lungs. With tremendous power, he gave the sword a swish, which suddenly let out a beam of electrical light as he did. It shot straight to the beast's arm, and the beast shouted in pain as it made direct contact, causing his hand to turn a sickly orange, then green, before disappearing. The beast dropped the freaked-out Benson, who was caught by Skips, and grabbed his handless arm. It was a few seconds before the hand came back, duller than usual.

"Oh, you are going to pay!" it shouted, ignoring his shock of Rigby's now sudden power. He cupped his hands and unleashed a huge group of skeletons, but bigger and had more challengable weapons, all charging at Rigby. But the raccoon ran towards them and sliced through each and every one of them like it was nothing, killing them all. The beast groaned angrily and unleashed his golden ball, but Rigby held out his sword and it absorbed it, letting it become even more powerful. "No... That's not possible..." the beast muttered.

Dark clouds arouse onto the ceiling, turning everywhere into darkness. And thunder boomed, while lightning bolts flashed light the area. The flames died completely and the ground was converted to a film of water, as if they all were standing on water, though they really weren't. The beast saw this as an advantage, and embraced the power. The clouds grew ever bigger and the lightning struck everywhere, though it harmed no one. A long, coal colored sword grew in the beasts claw and he wielded it, letting it glow darkly. Rigby wielded his own sword, and they charged towards each other.

The sounds of metal clashing echoed loudly as the swords came together. They clashed a few times before they were held against each other, both trying to overcome the other. The beast pushed hard, but Rigby pushed even harder as the power inside of him grew. "You're not going to win," hissed Rigby. "Every bad guy loses." "Well then, I shall make history, won't I?" said the beast. "Yeah, YOU'LL BE HISTORY!" Rigby screamed. He glowed even brighter and Rigby felt more enhanced than ever. This caught the beast off guard, and Rigby seized it. He swung the sword and sent another beam right towards the beast's face. It penetrated its skin, but the beast raised his hand to heal it. And just at that moment...

It seemed to be in slow motion. Rigby jumped up super high, even higher than the beast's height, spinning a little and raising the sword right over his head, a blue lightning bolt striking it, filling it up with unimaginable power. The sword glowed brightly with the power's light, sparks emitting off of it, and Rigby brought it down just as the beast opened his mouth to unleash his final power (Which was breathing out fire that was beyond white-hot) to try to kill the raccoon, and...

Bullseye.

Rigby struck the gem and forced the sword down, letting the beast close its mouth before doing any damage. Then it stopped. Everything froze.

Then...

The jewel shattered to thousands of pieces.

Rigby's grip on the dead sword now loosened and he slowly let go, as well as his balance. His eyes no longer glowed and they turned back to normal. Rigby felt himself falling, the remaining power inside leaving him, letting him turn back to his true self. He felt very tired and weak and for a moment, he thought he saw himself dying, but he struggled to keep his eyes open. He heard the beast screams in pain as saw it grab his head in pain as Rigby slowly descended, and everything around him, including the beast, started turning white. The raccoon barely managed to smile and say...

"I-I w-won..."

His smile completely faded away and with a sigh, Rigby lost all of his strength and his eyes closed, letting the raccoon falling into oblivion...

* * *

**EPIC**.

Am I right?

Okay, originally I was going to put it up earlier, really I swear, but apparently, I got a cough that soon turned to a _small_ case of pneumonia that has me stuck in bed all day, and I still have it at this time *shudders* I don't want to talk about it. So sorry for the delay.

Now R&R please while I go find a cough drop! And as soon as I am cured, the next chapter shall be up, and if not, then you may come at me with your pitchforks and torches. (Just don't kill me)

~Arristo~


	17. The Aftermath

He was seeing darkness. Nothing but pitch black was in his vision. But he could swear that he could hear faint voices, and they were increasing by the minute. Then, a light began to swim into his vision. It grew brighter and his surroundings began to clear up. He thought he was lying on soft grass. He then opened his eyes.

The familiar scene of the Park surrounded him, as well as the others. Rigby was lying on the ground, in an eagle-spread position as he saw Muscleman was sitting up, groaning with Fives by his side. Skips was holding an unconscious Benson in his arms and Pops was holding an ice pack against Benson's dome. Rigby turned his head and saw himself facing Mordecai's body, still and unmoving, his hands folded together on his chest.

It was then Rigby heard Pop's gasp of surprise as he turned his head back to the group when his stomach and head gave a small jolt of pain, but a faint glow suddenly soothed it just a moment later. His body filled with weariness and it got the best of him. His eyes shut once more.

* * *

When he came too once more he felt a bit better, but still kinda of weak. Rigby moaned and opened his eyes. Rigby sat up and saw that he was back in his room, lying on his trampoline. Dim sunlight filled the room, indicating that it was almost dusk. His arm felt a little sore, but otherwise, he felt better than before. Rubbing his eyes, Rigby got up and stood on shaking legs, walking towards the door when it swung open. Skips stood in the doorway, holding a glass of water in his hand. He glanced down at the raccoon and handed the glass to him. "Drink this." He said.

Rigby didn't even reply as he chugged the water down his dry throat. Water never tasted so good. It took only a second to drain the glass, and Rigby gasped for air, handing the glass back to Skips. "H-How long was I out?" Asked Rigby.

"Eh, hours." said the yeti. "But you should get better in a few days or so."

Rigby nodded silently. "What about the others?"

"Muscleman and Fives are fine, Pops is bit shaken when he found us, and Benson was overheated, but he's gonna be okay."

"And... W-What happened to M-Mordecai?"

Skips pointed to the bed, where Mordecai laid there, still and unmoving. Rigby cringed as the horrible memory flashed before him. "W-why didn't you... You k-know?" he asked. Skips replied, "Well, it's kind of a weird story..." The yeti then explained that when they came back, the Crene was destroyed forever, and everyone who were trapped in it were freed and their minds erased. Then, the Cheshire cat suddenly appeared and told us what happened when Rigby defeated the beast. Healed Rigby's wounds, and did something mysterious to Mordecai's body, making the large scar fade away. Then, the cat said farewell, and was gone...

And after that, they just didn't know what to do. Not even Skips.

Rigby stood there, stunned. It was a lot to take in. No wonder he felt better when he saw that glowing earlier. But he was still confused about Mordecai. Was he alive? Or was he still gone?

He turned to ask Skips something but the yeti had already left. Rigby sighed and walked to the bed and sat in front of it, staring at Mordecai lying still. The horrible memory played over and over in his mind like a sad song. Hot tears filled his eyes and streamed down his cheeks. He folded his arms on the bed and buried his head in them, sobbing quietly. "I-I'm sorry Mordecai," he said in between sobs. "I-I'm s-so so sorry..."

"Rigby." A voice suddenly called for him. Rigby wiped some of his tears away, not noticing the puddle of tears right where his head was. He looked up to see Benson standing in the doorway, holding an ice pack against his head. The gumball machine looked very tired and weak. "W-what do y-you want?" Asked the raccoon. "To have me get up and r-rake t-the leaves?"

"No, "Said Benson calmly. "I just came to check on you. Skips told me you were up."

"Please, just leave me a-alone." Rigby moaned quietly, burying his head back into his arms. Benson sighed and nodded and closed the door, walked away, stumbling a little as he went. Rigby waited until he made sure Benson was gone.

The raccoon picked his head up and looked at the blue jay. He suddenly propped himself up and placed his folded arms onto Mordecai's chest, resting his head. His feathers were so soft and comforting. Already Rigby began to feel himself drift off.

And just as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness, he thought he felt himself lift up, and then down, over and over, slowly, as if Mordecai underneath him was actually... breathing.

* * *

Sorry for the shortness. I had to get something up. Things are going crazy as my school year's gonna end soon, so... yep. I gotta watch more RS for inspiration!

Well, good news is, I gave you another chapter! Yay! And bad news, we're coming to the end of this story... Wahh!

So, is Mordecai alive, or not? Hmm...

R&R please! I'll get the last chapter up as soon as possible

~Arristo~


	18. AN (Very Important)

Hey guys. Yes I get this is not another chapter, but this has a good reason. You see, originally I was gonna post a REAL chapter this week, but now...

Just 2 nights ago my great grandma passed in her sleep... :'( My parents just told me tonight.

And I never had the chance for goodbye.

I'll be in my depression once more, which will take away my writing energy, so you'll have to wait a week or so... I'm really, truly sorry, but I'll have to cope with this for a while... This is even WORSE than Petey...

So, bye for now my fellow readers T_T

~Arristo~


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